The world's largest automotive market, China, is dropping considerations to have a firm deadline for banning the sales of new gasoline and diesel vehicles, according to policymakers advising the government on car market policies.
"Some countries have a policy banning fuel cars and we are against such moves," the head of the advisory panel, Wang Binggang, said in an interview with several outlets, including Bloomberg.
"We don't want to kill fuel cars," Wang said, adding that China will incentivize the development and sales of hybrid vehicles to have the fleet at least partially powered by electricity.
Countries in Europe, including Norway and the UK, have plans to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans, with the UK currently considering whether to bring forward the deadline to 2035 or even sooner from the current deadline 2040.
Market conditions in China, however, are not yet conducive to setting a firm timetable for phasing out vehicles powered by fossil fuels, policymaker Wang told Bloomberg.
Last year, China was said to be considering setting a timetable for phasing out gasoline cars in some regions of the country.
China has curbed some subsidies for electric vehicles over the past year, but it is looking to raise its target to have new energy vehicles (NEVs) account for 'over 20 percent' by 2025.
Last year, China was considering a target of 25 percent of NEVs of all car sales by 2025, but amid the massive subsidy cuts, the world's largest EV market could find reaching the 25-percent share target a huge challenge, IHS Markit said in December 2019.
Under the latest proposal from the panel led by Wang, the target for NEV sales in 2025 is between 15 percent and 25 percent. China's target for NEV sales in 2035 will likely be set at between 50 percent and 60 percent of all sales, Wang told Bloomberg.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Comments
With technology improving day by day the performance of the internal combustion engines (ICEs), the range, the price and with ICEs continuously becoming environmentally-friendlier, there is no rush to go for EVs.
And while EVs will get a share of some 3.5% in the global transport system, they will never ever prevail over ICEs throughout the 21st century and far beyond.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London