China’s Strong Drive To An Electric Future

China has been single-handedly dominating both the production and consumption of electric cars in the world today. This ever-surging enthusiasm among the Chinese people had experts projecting a future in which the entire country’s transportation will run electric.

A Strong Political Will

According to the report from China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of electric cars in the country have seen a huge spike in 2018, with over 60 percent in increase to 1.3 million vehicles.

The figure could further reach new heights, to 1.6 million or more in 2019, the EV industry organization went on to stipulate. As of recent years, China’s EV market is considered to be the largest, compared to the rest of the world combined. And the key to this boom is the Chinese government’s unbridled support to the industry.

Rather than rely on the tricky and sometimes, highly-unfavorable market economics, the Xi Jinping administration took the matters on its own hands by pushing policies that greatly benefit China’s EV industry.

It’s been nearly a decade already since the government began offering tax incentives and subsidies for EV manufacturers and consumers, a report said. Incentives slashed can get as high at a whopping 60%. No wonder, everyone’s clamoring to get their own EVs.

Not only that: the government has placed a chokehold on the sales and use of fossil-fuel cars in the country. So much so that China is now even looking to get rid of every single vehicle that uses an internal combustion engine from the road in the coming years. Investments in the manufacture of gas-guzzling cars are also being culled.

Going Electric

Adapting the EV-only lifestyle isn’t necessarily difficult for the Chinese. Shenzhen, for example, has set a record for being the world’s first and only city to employ a public transportation system that runs on 100% electric.

It also happens that the city, which is known as “China’s Silicon Valley,” is where BYD is headquartering its operations. BYD, or “Build Your Dreams” company, is one of the largest EV manufacturers in the world, second only to the Elon Musk-founded Tesla.

Speaking of which, the sustainability of China’s EV market somehow pushed Western brands like General Motors, BMW, and Volkswagen to set roots in the country.

Tesla, in fact, already has its own factory, dubbed The Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China. The Palo Alto, California-based tech firm is looking to ramp up its global production, a plan which China gracefully catered to.

It is believed that the future of transportation is in electric vehicles. Knowing how strong the industry is going on in the country, it really shouldn’t come as a big surprise if China will retain its top position in the global auto market, even for the years to come.

You could also at least expect more innovations on EV technology, the ones that will bring down the relatively steeped prices while increasing the quality of these transport commodities.