China Outlines Incentive Plan for Electric Cars

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

BEIJING — Senior Chinese officials on Friday outlined how they aimed to turn their country into the world’s largest producer of electric cars, including a focus on consumer choice rather than corporate subsidies.

Speaking at a conference at the government’s prestigious Diaoyutai guesthouse here, the officials acknowledged that their efforts faced challenges in terms of the cost and safety of electric cars. They promised a nationwide effort by manufacturers, universities, research institutes and government agencies to overcome these obstacles.

Wan Gang, a former Audi engineer in Germany who is now China’s minister of science and technology, portrayed the country’s electric car initiative as central to China’s international competitiveness, but said that there were environmental goals as well.

“We need to be sustainable in different sectors, particularly in the auto sector,” he said.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/business/energy-environment/11electric.html?hp

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

1. Yeah and they want to buy Jeep

nothing like commies infiltrating.

I wonder how they will dictate manufacturing?

[Terry in Austin]

3. Meh. They stopped being commies quite a while ago

Now they're just "consumers."

[mbperrin]

2. Looks like a good approach - bottom up from consumers.

Zhang Shaochun, a vice minister of finance, said that the government wanted to let the market determine which electric vehicle models would become popular. So while the government is providing some research subsidies, the main step will be to provide very large subsidies for buyers of electric cars — already up to 60,000 yuan, or $8,800, for purchases by taxi fleets and local government agencies.

“The fiscal subsidy gives voting rights to the consumer,” he said.