BEIJING (AP) – China has stepped up pressure on automakers to accelerate development of electric cars by raising the first-year target for a planned system of production quotas but delayed its rollout from next year until 2019.
China has the world’s most aggressive government plans to promote electric cars. Communist leaders see them as a way to clean up China’s smog-choked cities as well as a promising industry.
Electrics will have to make up at least 10 percent of each automaker’s output, up from 8 percent in an earlier proposal, and those that fail to meet their targets can buy credits from competitors that do, under regulations released late Thursday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The minimum rises to 12 percent in 2010 and the ministry will announce annual targets after that later.
The launch was postponed from next year until 2019 following warnings few automakers can get enough vehicles to market so early.
“The final rule reflects a triumph for pragmatism over dogma,” because few brands “will have a serious fleet of EV offerings on sale until closer to 2019-2020,” said Bernstein analysts in a report.