Shanghai plans big subsidies to promote electric car purchases

Is this the year that the fully-electric car goes mainstream? It could be. The Tesla Model 3, announced last week, racked up more than 100,000 preorders in a very short time. And in Shanghai, even the government’s getting in on the electric action. The city has just released a new draft of its provisional legislation that provides some hefty subsidies to encourage electric car purchases.

In specific, the government is offering:

• A US$1,500 subsidy for an electric car purchase with a range of 100-150 km.
• A US$4,600 subsidy for an electric car purchase with a range of greater than 150 km.
• A US$1,500 subsidy for plug-in hybrids with an electric range of at least 50 km.
• A US$2,100 for any car with an engine displacement of 1.6L or less or that meets a few other standards, in addition to any of the above subsidies it qualifies for.

The Tesla Model 3, for example, costs US$35,000, but would be eligible for at least US$4,600 in subsidies in Shanghai, knocking the total price down to almost US$30,000. (Of course this is just a hypothetical example; Tesla hasn’t officially priced the Model 3 in China yet and it’s likely to cost a lot more than US$35,000 due to China’s heavy import duties).

If you want to take advantage, though, you should probably act fast. These regulations are in effect through December 2017, but the subsidies are on a sliding scale, and will decrease as sales numbers for electric vehicles rise.