China may launch EV support policy this month

Shanghai, April 2 (Gasgoo.com) Later this month China may launch a policy of supporting the electric vehicle (EV) commercialization. The government will convene national and global EV makers in two weeks to meet with related authorities for finalizing the plans of EV infrastructure construction, xinhuanet.com said today.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will invite BYD, GM, Nissan, Daimler, State Grid Corp of China and auto industry authorities of all provinces and some cities to this EV conference in-mid April, to discuss how to commercialize the electric vehicles and provide the supporting services for them. The meeting will decide how to build the EV recharging infrastructure.

China has designated the first batch of 13 cities for the pilot project of trial-running more than 60,000 electric vehicles in public transportation, public services and postal service. Transportation authorities of these cities, together with the EV manufacturers, have looked to the state grid departments for help in building EV recharging stations, but in vain. This time the MIIT will step in and finalize this issue.

The commercialization of electric vehicles is expected to gain speed after the Chinese government can coordinate the EV infrastructure construction by related departments. In the United States and Japan, automakers rely on their governments for the setting up of the EV recharging facilities.

By the end of this year, the Chinese government will release its plans for more extensive new-energy vehicle infrastructure construction, in which the EV recharging network will be significantly expanded.