Pollution is becoming more and more of a problem in China. That’s why the Chinese government is now in a major attempt to try and decrease pollution and have a better impact on the environment. One of the up and coming innovations that can definitely help with this and have a good impact on the environment is the electric car, and the Chinese government seems to realize this as well, putting in measures in order to increase the amount of electric cars on the road.
Electric cars are a means to decrease carbon emissions. Petrol cars emit significantly larger amounts of carbon dioxide than electric cars. For example, if an electric car uses electricity which is generated from renewable energy sources, then it would be able to produce up to six times less carbon emissions than a regular car (Fischer & Keating, 2017). Obviously, replacing all cars on the road with regular cars would be a very effective measure if you were looking to have a positive impact on the environment and there are several ways governments can help achieve that, for example by subsidizing electric cars and by establishing an infrastructure for electric cars (Van Wee, Maat & De Bont, 2012).
It therefore make sense that the Chinese government is currently putting in similar regulations in order to increase the amount of electric cars on the road. For example, they’ve currently been subsidizing electric cars as well as electric car charging stations, making them more attractive to purchase and produce (Schmitz, 2017). Very recently, more drastic measures have even been proposed, for example to ban the production of all petrol and diesel cars in China itself and to impose sales quotas for electric and hybrid cars, so that by 2025 at least 20% of the cars sold in China are these types of cars. (China to ban, 2017; Schwartz & Jourdan, 2017)
It will definitely be very interesting to see if these types of regulations are actually going to implemented and enforced and to see the impact of the electric car on the environment in China and the rest of the world.
China to ban production of petrol and diesel cars in the near future. (2017). Retrieved at 9 October 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/11/china-to-ban-production-of-petrol-and-diesel-cars-in-the-near-future
Fischer, H. & Keating, D. (2017). How eco-friendly are electric cars? [online] DW. Retrieved at 9 October 2017 from http://www.dw.com/en/how-eco-friendly-are-electric-cars/a-19441437
Van Wee, B., Maat, K., & De Bont, C. (2012). Improving sustainability in urban areas: discussing the potential for transforming conventional car-based travel into electric mobility. European Planning Studies, 20(1), 95-110.
Schmitz, R. (2017). China moves to increase number of electric vehicles on its roads. [online] NPR. Retrieved at 9 october 2017 from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/25/525412342/china-moves-to-increase-number-of-electric-vehicles-on-its-roads
Schwartz, J. & Jourdan, A. (2017). Global automakers call on China to ease ‘impossible’ electric car rules. [online] Reuters. Retrieved at 9 October 2017 from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-autos-electric/global-automakers-call-on-china-to-ease-impossible-electric-car-rules-idUSKBN19Y1RC
Hi Sedat, I think your post is really interesting. I came from China and indeed the environmental pollution has become one of the most thorny problems in China, especially in the northern part of China, at where many heavy industry factories are located. Therefore, any solution to the environmental pollution might be beneficial to Chinese people. As you mentioned, electric vehicle could be a ideal solution to decrease carbon emission. However, I think there are some factors might impede the development in China. First of all, since China is the third largest country in the world, many Chinese people need to drive for a very long distance, which is a major weakness of electric vehicle. Thanks to the battery constraint, The upper bound of a single travel of most electric vehicles is less than 400 kilometres. This means electric vehicle is not suitable for long distance traveling, which certainly cannot satisfy many people’s demand. As a result, most families still need a conventional car, otherwise they are not able to enjoy a self-driving trip anymore. Although some people might argue that charging stations can be built among cities, it still takes a lot of time to fully charge a electric vehicle, which is not very realistic during a trip. Furthermore, since automobile is not a fast moving consumer goods and it is usually quite expensive, people might keep their conventional cars for many years. Thus, it might take much longer than we think to complete the electric vehicle transformation in China.
Yanfeng
Hi Sedat,
Interesting view on China’s environmental issues. Moving towards electric cars is surely promising and provides a solution to such problems.
However, as you probably know, China’s population is huge. As such, the infrastructural requirements as you mentioned, cannot be changed in the short-term. Some areas do not even have paved roads yet, let alone electric charging stations.
How do you think China will implement the envisioned stimulation of electric cars, given that building sufficient electric stations is inherently costly (most of the budget is already spent on subsidizing the adoption of electric cars)?
Lets hope there is a solution though. China’s emission rates are mind-blowing and solutions are required. Fast.
Hi Niko and Yanfeng,
Thank you for your replies.
I definitely agree with you that it will be quite difficult for China to implement an infrastructure supporting electric cars. I think it will take some time before electric cars are going to be used a lot in China. For example, as my post mentioned, it will not be until 2025 before China will have sales quota for electric cars, assuming that the proposal passes. Meaning that China still has time to work on their infrastructure.
I think working on the infrastructure within major cities should be their number one priority and trying to promote using electric cars for traveling within cities. This is important seeing that a large part of the car use happens within the major cities of China. For example, making sure electric cars are used by government employees for their work travel within cities could be an effective measure, just like promoting business cars to be electric as well.
Seeing how hard it is to build a large-scale nationwide infrastructure, like you said Yanfeng, I think electric cars should replace the cars and other vehicles used for traveling solely within cities as long as the infrastructure is not yet built.