China outlines plans for making electric cars

China’s Ministry of Science and Technology has acknowledged that the government’s efforts at turning China into the world’s largest producer of electric cars are challenged by the cost of production and the effort of meeting safety standards while making electric cars lighter. While electric cars are rapidly improving, they remain roughly twice as expensive as similarly sized gasoline-powered cars, which also provide greater range, higher top speeds and better records for reliability. However, Wan Gang, minister of science and technology, said officials would facilitate a nationwide effort by manufacturers, universities, research institutes and government agencies to overcome the production obstacles. China wants to raise its annual production capacity to 500,000 hybrid or all-electric cars and buses by the end of 2011. By focusing on electric vehicles, it also aims to reduce urban pollution and decrease the country’s dependence on imported oil. To help this goal along, the government said it will give public-transport companies and government agencies in 13 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, as much as RMB600,000 (US$88,000) in subsidies for each alternative energy bus they use. Fuel-cell buses will get the highest subsidies. (March 16 / April 11/14/15, 2009)