Chinese new energy automobile sales still lagging heavily

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai December 24) - Commenting on the ongoing nationwide initiative to increase the number of new energy vehicles in China, Wang Binggang, director of the Ministry of Science and Technology’s electric vehicle department, stated that the reality on the ground was still lagging behind plans. “Over half of the time [for the plan] has passed, yet only one-fifth of the 330,000 sales target has been achieved,” Mr. Wang stated at the first China New Energy Automobile Consumptions Summit held earlier this week, the Economic Observer News reported today. “More importantly,” Mr. Wang added, “as of September 2015 there are still nine sites that have sold less than 100 new energy vehicles.”

The plan, which aims to bring new energy vehicles into the mainstream, has set up 39 new energy vehicle sales test sites throughout the country. The plan is set to be in effect from 2013 to 2015. A total of 38,600 new energy vehicles have been sold in these sites from 2013 until now, with 20,500 of those being sold this year.

Of the test cities, the best performing ones were in Anhui and Zhejiang. Hefei, the capital of Anhui, was able to complete 72 percent of its prescribed target, with a total of 4,145 vehicles sold in the city. In terms of raw numbers, Beijing and Shenzhen were among the best performing cities in terms of raw new energy vehicle sales. On the other side of things, Xi’an and Chengdu were among the 20 cities that haven’t managed to complete ten percent of their targets. Cities such as cities such as Changchun, Harbin, Lanzhou and Haikou have actually not managed to sell a single new energy vehicle so far.

Mr. Wang point out some of the factors hindering the growth of new energy vehicles: he cites supply problems, limited production capacity, few passenger automobile models, poor charging infrastructure and protectionist policies among the problems that need to be addressed. Al though there has been a slight upturn in 2014, the country still needs to work hard to promote the market’s healthy development.