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Production of new energy vehicles – some for public transportation – is skyrocketing as China pushes ahead with green technologies [Xinhua]
In 2017, nearly 800,000 such “green” vehicles were sold on the Chinese market.
“New energy vehicle production jumped 53.8 percent to 794,000 units last year, up 53.8 percent from the previous year,” the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said.
This comes as the Chinese government seeks to adopt a two-tier approach to environmental safety and boost its automotive industry.
In late December 2017, the Ministry of Public Security announced that it had issued 150,000 new license plates for cars that ran on new energy.
Some 19 Chinese cities are working to increase the number of new energy vehicles on the road in this pilot campaign.
The authorities are now encouraging residents to curb the use of their vehicles while more pressure is applied to construction sites to implement stricter pollution controls.
The winter months are particularly more dangerous as millions of Chinese resort to coal as a primary heating source.
The Chinese government has earmarked a plan to help some 700 villages turn to clean energy rather than coal, as well as shut down hundreds of polluting factories.
In neighboring Shanxi province, which lies southwest of Beijing, authorities are considering shifting their economy toward technology and away from coal production.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
