China’s government wants 5 million electric cars on the roads by 2020

Earlier this week, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology released a new plan that stresses the importance of developing China’s renewable energy market by increasing the number of cars that run on renewable energy. The target: to have 5 million “new energy” (mostly electric) cars on China’s roads by the year 2020. To facilitate that, the government will support the research and development of related automotive tech. The news sent stock prices climbing for many Chinese companies in the car and battery markets.

Still, 5 million cars by 2020 could be a big ask. According to Sina Tech, China is producing relatively low numbers in this industry at the moment; for example, it produced just over 2,000 fully electric cars this past January. Production numbers are rising fast, but for China to hit 5 million electric cars by 2020, they’ll need to maintain that feverish pace.

There are also questions about whether China’s consumer market is ready to embrace electric cars. Smaller electric vehicles like mopeds are already quite popular in many Chinese cities, but fully electric cars like those produced by Tesla haven’t done particularly well. Tesla sold just 120 cars in January in China.

Of course, the new measures announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology are aimed at bolstering the domestic electric car industry, so they’re likely not good news for Tesla anyway. Can Chinese companies produce a green electric car that will sell better than Elon Musk’s vehicles have in the Middle Kingdom? With the support of the government, it seems likely that they’ve got a good shot.

(Source: Sina Tech)