China is preparing itself to join the likes of UK and France, and cities such as Madrid and Mexico City, by banning petrol- and diesel-powered cars in the future to cut pollution.
Reuters reports that the country, the world’s largest auto market and second largest oil consumer, has begun studying when to ban the production and sale of cars using traditional fuels, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency, citing comments by the country’s vice industry and IT minister.
“Some countries have made a timeline for when to stop the production and sales of traditional fuel cars. The ministry has also started relevant research and will make such a timeline with relevant departments. Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s development,” Xin said at an auto industry event in Tianjin without mentioning a date.
To combat air pollution and close a competitive gap between its younger domestic automakers and global giants, China has set goals for full electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) cars to make up at least 20% of auto sales by 2025. So, a complete phasing out of the internal combustion engine is some distance away, if it ever happens.
Xin said the local auto industry faced “turbulent times” over from now till 2025 to make the switch towards new energy vehicles, urging domestic car makers to adapt to the challenge and adjust their strategies accordingly.
Last month, Reuters reported that China was likely to delay implementing tough sales quotas for electric plug-in vehicles, giving automakers more time to prepare. Under the latest proposals, 8% of sales would have to be EVs or PHEVs by next year, rising to 10% in 2019 and 12% in 2020, but the rules would not be enforced until 2019, a year later than originally planned.
Delay or not, the pivot to electric is happening, and supported by growing charging infrastructure. China’s People’s Daily reports that a total of 167,000 charging piles have now been connected to the telematics platform of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), making it the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network.
By linking with 17 charging station operators, the SGCC now offers more than one million kWh of power each day. The report adds that SGCC has built 5,526 charging and battery swap stations and more than 40,000 charging piles since 2006, with a fast-charging highway network that covers 121 cities in 16 provinces. The average distance between two stations is less than 50 km. The state-owned company plans to expand its own charging station count to 120,000 by 2020.
SGCC’s target is to reduce the maximum distance between charging stations to less than five km in suburban areas, less than three km in inner suburbs, and less than one km in urban areas.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
This will not be good news for oil producing countries.
This is good news for human species
for sure this is bad news for Malaysia
While back here our menteris minyak still trying to guess how much to inrease fuel prices every week…every week sit round table buat cabuted nombor sambil minum dan walap goreng pisang…raykat kan didahulukan pak..
This is too complicated for our gomen…tak payah le…kita wait all world buat than we copy paste…senang je…tak payah pening..
The designs and engines of EV vehicles are not only appealing but are also expected to be relatively cheaper than before because of economies of scale and competition.
And finally US will stop bringing ‘democracy’ to the Mid East countries once EV tech takes off in a big way. The biggest EV source material location is in China….so expect lots of ‘democracy’ activity in China.
remember – just one moving part for electric motor compare to internal combustion engines.
This should move petrol price down a little.
China is so advance just like singapore…they can do anything they want..their people are also very advance and modern…well mannered some more…so likeable everywhere they go…people all over the world adore them so much…
Our highly regarded leaders welcome them with open arms. And sharing Msia national assets.
Lol…China people’s lack of courtesy is world famous. Even local Chinese hate them. The main reason they are so advanced now is because they steal advanced research tech from others and do it cheaply.
beribu ribu tahniah
Wonder will the income of oil dependent countries, for instance like ours be effect drastically when most major market tend to decease petrol usage. Worried….
It depends on how the oil producing countries response. Its alredi down right now, so if they havent sink yet (like Venu), then the further decrease wun so badly affect them. For MY, alredi we reduced to 15% income dependency, and with current economy diversification, we can aim reduce down to <10%. But in mid terms, MY oil will still be prized cuz its jet fuel quality.
Please also ban Malaysia from selling NEW Petrol & Diesel cars from 2020 onwards. We also want to be on par with the rest of developed countries. That is one of the ways to save mother earth from being destroyed by air pollutions. Malaysia Boleh.
But P2 will straight die….
If you think oil is produced exclusively for car-fuel only, think again, there are many users for oil, there might be a drop in prices as demand for car-fuel falls, but it will not be so drastic to “close-shop” permanently, there might be, as expected, some re-allocation. My point is oil is here to stay at least for the foreseeable future, but at lower prices.
Can go back cycling like the 80s
Ban the petrol engine and use electric engine yes its good for the environment.
The question is how did they generate the electric?
Solar power efficiency 20%
Toyota get its engine efficiency 38%
Coal power efficiency 33% to 40%
Combined Cycle Gas Turbines efficiency (CCGTs) 60%
Nuclear power efficiency 80% to 90%