China to Keep Clear Mind Facing New Energy

　　BYD finally decided to start the market of F3DM on March 29 after several delays for the sales to personal consumers, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The consumers will be able to buy the low-carbon version of dual-mode electric vehicle-F3DM from BYD's dealerships. From the pictures which were released by BYD, we can see that the vehicle is equipped with a solar battery charging system fixed on the roof. However, the sale price of F3DM has not been disclosed yet.

　　Although there has been speculation on the reason for the postponement such as immature technology, BYD insisted that they were waiting for the clarification of subsidy polices. Wang Jianjun, the Deputy General Manager of BYD, said, "That is expression of being responsible for consumers.” Now BYD has got a satisfactory answer.

　　During the 2010 sessions of National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Miao Wei, the Vice Minster of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out publicly that the subsidy program for private consumers who buy new energy vehicles would be announced within this month. However, the subsidy policies are not limited in the field of electric vehicles such as BYD F3DM. According to Miao Wei's statement, the subsidy program for private consumers will be decided by how much fuel can be saved. For personal customers who buy new energy vehicles, the maximum subsidies are about 50,000-60,000 yuan and the minimum subsidies may be less than 10,000 yuan.

　　Recently, in a high-end meeting about automotive industry, several top officials in charge of auto market agreed that new program should not be limited in the field of new energy or electric vehicles. Saving energy and low carbon should become the core criterion rather than the kinds of vehicles.

　　A person who attended the meeting pointed out that senior government officials have realized that the development of new energy vehicles dose not mean that China will give up the research and development of traditional automotive technologies. Recently the U.S. government has invested a sum of money for upgrading the fuel-efficiency of traditional vehicles, which aroused the attention of Wan Gang, the Minister of Science and Technology. An official who is familiar with Wan Gang told the 21st Century Business Herald that Wan Gang kept a clear mind on the development of new energy vehicles industry. Wan Gang once said that German government first proposed the policy that the fuel consumption for 100 kilometers should be reduced to three liters, no matter which way is used. To reach the standard is the center target. Wan Gang believed that China can learn from Germany's practice.

　　It seems that the above remarks have drawn a clear line for the long-term dispute over the development of new energy vehicles.

　　In recent years, there exists argument about to develop which kind of new energy vehicles first in China's auto industry. The fifteenth National People's Congress proposed that China should focus on the development of pure, hybrid and hydrogen fuel cells. In addition, 11th Five-Year Plan also decided to increase the technological upgrading of traditional energy vehicles, and then China put R & D of hybrid vehicles first and paid great attention to the pure electric vehicles.

　　On exchange meeting, Ouyang Minggao, member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Auto Safety and Energy-Saving Laboratory at Tsinghua University explained his basic ideas on how to develop new energy vehicles in 12th Five-Year Plan draft.

　　According to Ouyang MingGao, battery, motor and electronic control system of current new energy auto industry of China are still not stable, so Chinese government will invest a lot on these field. Meanwhile, China will also start the strategic development of hybrid, pure electric and fuel cell to realize different industrialization goals in different segmentation market.

　　Ouyang MingGao assigned three technology routes about developing new energy vehicles to three models. Buses mainly are hybrid, small cars mainly are pure electric and continue to do research of fuel cell technology, but the investment on above models will mainly rely on business.

　　However, since Chinese government put promotion of fuel-efficient and new energy vehicles into auto industry restructuring and revitalization of planning in March 2009, production of new energy vehicles in China took off.

　　Senior auto analyst Zhou Lijun pointed out it is likely that some auto manufacturers plan to grab money, land, finance and access by launching new energy vehicle projects. As a result, Chinese government’ finance subsidiaries on new energy vehicles maybe become a new means of financing for some auto manufacturers. However, policy-makers of new energy vehicles have noticed the improper purposes of some auto enterprises.

　　"When it comes to preferential policies for new energy vehicles in the future, Chinese government will consider widely”, an insider told reporters. From the vertical policy assessment will likely depend on fuel consumption standards. Besides, from the horizontal award will be given to which model’s emission can reach the Euro V emissions standards. Fuel limits are the same, Chinese government will rule several stages of goals and award will be given to auto enterprises who could reach the goals first. “In summary, development of new energy vehicles should be business-oriented and define market-recognition as a path to determine technology route. As long as the new energy vehicles can meet demands of the entire market environment, Chinese government will issue relevant policies to encourage them”, said the person.（Translator：Qinghua/Hanxin&Wade）

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