In 2019, China will change the way automakers do business in the country. The world’s largest automotive market will impose electric-car regulations calling for new-energy vehicles to represent 10 percent of all new vehicles sold. GM sold fewer electrified cars in China in 2017 but the automaker is confident it will meet the regulations.
The Detroit Free Press reported last Wednesday that Matt Tsien, president of GM China, is “very confident” the automaker and its joint-venture partners will do just fine when the regulations are installed. Right now, GM sells three electrified cars in China: Baojun E100, Buick Velite 5 (a reskinned Chevrolet Volt) and the Cadillac CT6 Plug-In.
Beleive it or not, Americans actually purchased more electrified cars than the Chinese last year. GM sold 43,646 Bolt EVs and Volts in the U.S., while it sold 14,600 E100s, Velite 5s, and CT6 Plug-Ins in China combined. That will soon change as GM ushers in its new electric-car platform, which will underpin 20 new battery-electric vehicles by 2023. Battery-electric cars will qualify for greater new-energy vehicle (NEV) credits in China than plug-in or traditional hybrids.
“We have the products in the pipeline,” Tsien said.
The Chinese government will help shift consumers into more NEVs, too. The government currently offers up to $6,700 in incentives to close the price gap between electrified cars and traditional vehicles and China hopes to expand its charging infrastructure to more than 20 million stations by 2025.
Comments
While the Trump Admin withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, US car companies being global organizations are developing an entire ZEV fleet by 2023 ahead of Europe’s ZEV mandate of 2025; but cities and states across the country need to begin building the necessary infrastructure to support the millions of ZEVs that will be sold as streets with public parking will need recharging stalls and there has to be a massive upgrade to the power grid as recharging 10-20M new ZEV and even more will require new nuclear power plants, wind farms (on and off shore) and the fact that not all ZEV being pure electric as some might be fuel cell vehicles that run on Hydrogen, LNG or even gasoline. (the clock is ticking)
Government incentives. Another country taking your tax dollars to give back to you to buy something you didn’t want in the first place.
The first thing they need to do is end the ridiculous tax credit incentive or drastically reduce it. There is no reason for such a massive and quick switch to all electric vehicles so soon when our roads and bridges are crumbling faster than they can keep up with it. And why is dirty China all of a sudden so interested in all this so called clean electric vehicle stuff anyway? There must be something huge in it for them or they wouldn’t be so gung ho.