Hybrid Car (Photo : www.hybridcars.com)
Chinese and China-based vehicle manufacturers produced 47,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids during the first 10 months of 2014, almost five times more than they did within the same period last year.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the government agency that regulates China's auto industry, about 22,200 electric passenger vehicles were made, representing a sevenfold increase over last year.
Moreover, 11,100 plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles were produced, which is 20 times more than the number recorded the year before.
Finally, four fuel-cell-powered passenger vehicles were built in the January-October period compared to none last year.
With respect to commercial vehicles, MIIT records show that production of electric commercial vehicles surged by 133 percent to 5,723 units, while those of plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles jumped by 181 percent to 7,972 units.
Despite the remarkable increases in production, many still doubt that the country's auto industry will be able to meet the production and distribution goals set by the authorities.
The government has previously announced that it wants to have 5 million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road by 2020. In fact, it has been providing incentives to make the acquisition of these types of vehicles more attractive, including extending subsidies of up to $8,800 for taxi fleets and local government agencies in 13 Chinese cities for each hybrid or all-electric vehicle that they buy.
More recently, the government has announced that current restrictions on foreign investment in companies making key components for electric cars and hybrids will be lifted.
The proposed revision on the "Catalog of Industries for Guidance on Foreign Investment" to make this possible is now being circulated by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's central economic planning agency, for comments and reaction from the public.
Under the proposed revision, the manufacture of key components for these alternative energy vehicles will be placed in the category of industries where foreign investment is encouraged.
