CRI听力:China Steps up Support for New Energy Vehicles

The State Council pledged that more battery charging facilities will be built, with the new-energy vehicles sector receiving increased investment and subsidies.

Other measures include increasing the share of new energy cars in the public transportation system and enhancing their quality.

The policies came as the Chinese government is looking to the industry to push industrial upgrades, ease pressure on the environment and foster new growth engines.

Though favored by many, some have found the choices on these cars are rather limited.

Mr. Cao hails from Beijing.

"Frankly speaking, there are only a few models, I have been to several dealerships, but only seven or eight models are on sale."

Statistics show the actual number of new energy models in China increased from 15 to 23 last year, but those choices still fall short of consumer demand.

Last year, the Chinese production and sales these vehicles more than tripled from the previous year.

China EV 100 Association head Chen Qingtai says technology upgrading is much needed as sales surge.

"Actually, the market is driven by government policies, which the government has subsidized a lot. China has many shortcomings when it comes to electronic technology."

Beijing is following the central government's call to build more charging posts, encouraging private capital to participate in the plan.

Lin Xiaofeng with the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission explains what they are doing.

"Radiating from the center of the capital, the charging network will expand toward the suburbs of Beijing. With the 5 thousand posts already built, we plan to build 5 thousand more this year. In 2017, we will be able to accomplish a charging network with a post located every 5 kilometers."

As the charging network is built, the authorities are making an effort to clamp down on fraud, announcing that investigations of companies that commit fraud to obtain state subsidies in the new-energy-vehicle- sector will be stepped up.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Deputy Xin Guobin says supportive policies are improving.

"At first, the country only subsidized production per car, then, the policy changed into a combination on various factors like R&D, tax exemptions, market permits, and facilities construction. So now the combo policy is almost perfect."

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts the sales of new-energy vehicles will more than double this year.

After surging threefold last year, sales number could reach 700 thousand units.

For CRI, I'm Min Rui.