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Reservations over charging stations and short range are fueling antipathy in prospective buyers
In the face of stiff consumer resistance to new-energy vehicles, authorities in Beijing are stepping up efforts to make buying them more attractive.
The Beijing municipal commission of urban planning has announced that new building projects will soon be required to include charging stations for new-energy vehicles. Such projects would include residential blocks, office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels and tourist areas. It is likely that the rule would also apply to new public car parks, petrol stations and highway service areas.
The paucity of charging stations and the limited distances electric cars can drive before they need to be recharged are often cited as the main reasons there is so little interest in the vehicles in China. Most electric cars can run for a maximum of 150 kilometers on a full charge, and sometimes as little as 100 km in bad weather or difficult road conditions.
Giving a car a full charge can also be time consuming, as much as eight hours.
In addition to the new building rules, this year Beijing authorities have unveiled incentives for would-be buyers of electric cars including giving owners discounts on parking fees.
Despite the lack of enthusiasm among Chinese for the vehicles, the country is now the world's second largest new-energy vehicle maker.
One of those who continues to resist the urge to buy an electric car is Zheng Zheng, 42, of Beijing, an avowed aficionado of the vehicles.
"I won't be buying one right now because charging them is too much hassle and takes too long," Zheng says. "Their limited range is also a huge problem for me."
Zheng says that for the past year he has considered buying an electric car as a secondary vehicle for short-distance trips in the city, but says his qualms about them remain unassuaged.
To ease the concerns of people like Zheng the central government has adopted policies aimed at supporting the market.
Last month the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology started a trial program with rental electric cars, and Minister Miao Wei says he supports the idea of opening a site for the project at Beijing Capital Airport as soon as possible.
Renting the cars at a low cost is seen as a good way of promoting the vehicles among potential buyers and cultivating the market. Such schemes exist in Europe and the United States.
In March the Sino-German joint venture BMW Brilliance teamed up with eHi Car Services Ltd, a car-rental company, to make its fully electric Zinoro 1E available for rent in eHi's Beijing network.
Last year BMW Brilliance started offering the 1E for daily and long-term rental and installed charging posts at users' homes.
The company has gradually built up its public charging network in Beijing and Shanghai.
Jochen Goller, BMW Brilliance's senior vice-president for marketing, says: "Electric mobility is one of the hottest topics in the automotive industry, and everyone is talking about it. But at the end of the day, it is also not only talking about it, but about putting e-mobility into action."
Charging infrastructure and customers who fully understand what e-mobility is are two important aspects of making it work, he says.
In January the German carmaker Daimler said it has signed a contract with the government of Chongqing and was going to offer its car-sharing service car2go in the municipality.
Daimler says the service will be launched within a year and will make Chongqing the first place in Asia to work with car2go.
Several hundred two-passenger vehicles will be used in the service. The business area is expected to include the extended downtown area of Chongqing.
Hubertus Troska, a member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Greater China, says: "This is a pioneering service, and we will offer an innovative and flexible product that will establish itself in local mega cities as a sustainable mobility solution for urban traffic."
About 12,500 car2go vehicles operate in 29 locations in North America and Europe, and more than 1 million members use them, the company says, and its China operations will be the first in Asia.
"I am confident that we can expand the global success of car2go to China," Troska says.
However, far from sitting idly by as electric-vehicle makers put their cars on the roads in China, their Chinese counterparts are also making forays into foreign markets.
Xindayang Electric Vehicle Technology has offered its ZD line of cars for rent in several Italian cities, including Pisa and Modena, since 2012.
Bao Wenguang, the company's chief executive, says the company plans to extend its Share'nGo car-sharing project to other European countries.
"Europeans like the idea of car sharing and green travel. As a pure electric car, the two-seat ZD fits in with both of those ideas. Its small size also meets the demand for a car that suits many European cities in which streets are often narrow and difficult for parking."
ZD will introduce car sharing to Milan this month, the company says.
Last month the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said sales of Chinese-branded totally electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles were likely to reach more than 1 million units by 2020 and 3 million by 2025. A ministry plan calls for exports eventually to account for 10 percent of sales.
duxiaoying1@chinadaily.com.
