CRI听力:China's Electric Vehicle Industry

Just a few days after China rolled out a plan to boost its underdeveloped electric vehicle industry, BMW released a report on its Mini E road test in Beijing, in BMW's words, to facilitate the development of electric vehicles in the country. The Mini E test-drive project was launched in 2011. The project selected 50 participants in Beijing and Shenzhen to drive electric models of the Mini Cooper, or Mini E, for a year, during which time it collected information about the driving and charging habits of the drivers for the report.

Li Xiang is the Mini E project manager. He explains the test results.

"We found that the average distance traveled per day by our participants was 49 kilometers, and the travel range was 140 to 170 kilometers when the Mini E model was fully charged. And they charged their cars two to three times a week. We also surveyed our participants to find out if they thought that a travel distance of 136 kilometers per charge was acceptable, but they indicated that it was better to reach 223 kilometers per charge. As for their rating of charging places in descending order, that would be home, work and public places."

BMW says the test results also provide solid information about the development of its electric car models i3 and i8, which will be introduced into the market later this year. BMW believes China's EV market has great potential. Surveys have indicated that all the Mini E test drivers would purchase the model if the price tag were below 400-thousand yuan.

The Chinese government has put in place preferential policies for EV buyers, exempting them from abiding by traffic control and car purchase restrictions in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The government is expected to soon offer EV buyers further subsidies and tax concession policies.

But potential EV buyers have other concerns. Beijing citizen Hou Yiguang is trying his luck in the car registration lottery, a local policy intended to restrict car purchases by awarding registrations to a limited numbers of winners out of hundreds of thousands of applicants. Hou says although he has applied for the lottery, he has yet to win in more than half a year. He's now considering buying an electric vehicle, but says it's a difficult decision to make.

"One of the things that has put me off is that there are not enough charging facilities that I can use. If it takes me half an hour to drive to a charging station from work and I have to wait in line to charge my car, there's no way I can buy an electric vehicle."

This is not an individual problem. BYD Auto, one of China's largest car manufacturers and the first to develop its own EV in the country suffered a fiasco in sales and had to temporarily abandon the private EV market. Kuang is the director of BYD's Green Energy Vehicle Department.

"We released the first EV model F3DM in 2008 trying to get a piece of the private EV market. But in 2009, we found it extremely difficult to boost our sales, because electric vehicles rely heavily on charging facilities, and we had few such facilities in China. This forced us to turn to green public transportation, making EV taxis and buses."

Auto expert Nan Chen agrees that the construction of supporting infrastructures for EVs is a crucial step in the development of the entire EV industry. He points to two problems the government needs to resolve.

"First, we should establish technical standards for the charging port and charging facilities. And I've found that many property management companies do not allow EV owners to install high voltage charging facilities in case any accidents occur. I think the government should help EV owners to negotiate with property management companies to make sure they can at least charge their cars at home."

According to the latest China EV industry development plan, by the end of 2020, the output of both electric and hybrid vehicles is forecast to grow to 2 million units. Nan Chen says the output volume is not the only standard for measuring the development of China's EV industry. What's more important is that China should acquire core EV technology to revolutionize the current Sino-foreign joint venture model where foreign enterprises hold technology and pricing rights. Nan Chen says he's optimistic and believes the change won't take too long.

Kuang from BYD Auto says his company is now the leader in EV technology development in China.

"Before we started to make cars in 2003, we made batteries. In terms of the three core EV technologies, namely batteries, electric motors and electronic controls, we have formed our own independent intellectual properties which have reached international standards. The travel distance per charge is between 200 and 300 kilometers, and that of the well-know Nissan Leaf EV model is slightly over 100 kilometers."

Looking into the future, Nan Chen says electric vehicles should become a part of a smarter power grid.

"For instance, in Kanagawa, Japan, electric vehicles play a role in energy conservation and power storage in buildings. Electric cars are wired to the power grid of houses. When the power goes out in the house, the power stored in the vehicle can be transferred back to supply the power usage in the house."

Currently, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is pushing the development of electric vehicles in 25 pilot cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, among which five cities, namely Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Hefei and Changchun are providing subsidies as high as 60-thousand yuan to those who buy privately owned electric vehicles.

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.