China to set deadline to phase out conventional vehicles

China is to set a deadline for the end of sales of conventional internal combustion engine vehicles to accelerate the move towards greater electric vehicle (EV) use in the country.

In another month that saw a spate of headlines on EVs, China’s Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Goubin, told a vehicle conference in Tianjin that the Chinese government is working with regulators on a timetable for ending the production and sales of fossil fuelled vehicles in the country. The Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported Goubin as telling the conference that vehicle manufacturers need to adjust their future strategies to keep in line with the plans.

While Goubin did not stipulate what the timetable will look like, the move would see China follow countries including the UK and France in setting a phase-out date for conventional vehicles, albeit on a much greater scale.

According to the International Energy Agency’s recent Global EV Outlook, China accounted for 40% of the 753,000 EVs sold worldwide in 2016, but of the 28mn vehicles sold in China last year only 1% were electric. The Chinese manufacturers BYD and BAIC dominate the EV market in the country.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced earlier this year that sales of ‘new energy vehicles’ (fully electric or plug-in hybrid EVs) should reach 2mn by 2020 and account for over 20% of total vehicle production and sales by 2025.

The news from China follows announcements from the UK and France in July that the countries will ban conventional passenger vehicles by 2040. India has also announced that it is looking to ban conventional vehicles by 2030.

Meanwhile, European manufactures have been making more commitments on EVs. Germany’s BMW announced that it will be mass producing electric cars by 2020 and will have 12 different pure electric models on sale by 2025. It said that it will offer a full-electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain alternative alongside all conventional versions of its model series, with all its production plants being able to build a mix of these simultaneously. BMW also announced a battery electric MINI that will go into production in 2019.

The company said that it expects EVs to account for between 15% and 25% of its sales by 2025, but that this depends on regulation, incentives and charging infrastructure in different markets. It says it will have 200,000 electrified vehicles on roads by the end of this year.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has recently committed to a completely electric future, following Volvo’s announcement (see Energy World September) that it will only launch electric or hybrid vehicles after 2019. JLR has said that all models released from 2020 will either be fully electric or hybrid. The manufacturer currently does not produce any electric cars, with a battery-powered SUV planned for production next year.

And the world’s largest car manufacturer Volkswagen is the latest manufacturer to commit to electric, announcing that it will offer an electric version of all of its 300 models by 2030, and 80 new electric cars by 2025.

Finally, Nissan has unveiled a longer-range version of its popular LEAF electric car. The new model will have effectively double the range of the current LEAF, with a quoted 380-km range under European driving conditions. The Nissan LEAF is the world’s most popular EV, with 283,000 sold since its 2010 launch.

Photo: The 2018 Nissan LEAF
Source: Nissan