China should be first to ban sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicle

Shanghai (Gasgoo)-At the beginning of September, Xin Guobin, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the Ministry has launched the timetable research to stop the production and sales of the traditional fuel vehicles, which sparked strong public discussion. Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD, predicted China would ban the sale of traditional fuel vehicles in 2030.

Yesterday, Changan Automobile announced its Shangri-La Plan and will start to ban the sales of traditional fuel-powered vehicles from 2025. If Changan’s schedule to stop the sale of fuel vehicle in 2025 is carried out by the whole country, China will be the first economic power to ban the traditional fuel vehicles. Germany announced to take similar action from 2030, France and Britain from 2040. India also announced it would ban the sales of traditional fuel-powered vehicles from 2030.

When the State Council launched the "Industry Development Plan of Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicles (2012 - 2020)" and made clear that new energy vehicles include pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, foreign car companies were completely blindsided, especially TOYOTA, GM and other transnational automobile groups which were specialized in hybrid cars. These companies even made public comment as early as in 2007 that they were not optimistic about the potential of electric cars but in favor of developing hybrid cars.

However, in 2007, light electric vehicles represented by low speed electric vehicles were rapidly developing in China, spurring the development of domestic battery and motor industry and forming a certain accumulation of technologies.

By 2012, the ownership of China's light electric vehicle (electric bicycle, electric motorcycle) exceeded 50 million vehicles. The segment’s output and sales accounted for more than 90% of the world. China has become the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of light electric vehicles. 

As a result, certain industry insiders in China think that our country boasts many advantages over other countries. At present, Chinese new energy vehicle market is almost monopolized by the independent brands which enjoy the preferential policies. What’s more, the dual-credit scheme will also be conducive to the development of domestic new energy vehicle industry. With a promising market and supportive policies, China should be the first country to step into the electric car era.