According to a report in Gasgoo, citing the National Development and Reform Commission, regulations on the development of new energy vehicles have been submitted to China’s State Council for approval and are expected to be in place by March next year.China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will be reclassifying new energy vehicles into three categories earlier this year:
Start-up technology, such as fuel cell vehicles still at the research level;
Developing technologies, such as hybrids with lithium-ion batteries;
Mature technologies, such as lead-acid battery hybrid vehicles.
According to the report, the annual output will be about 150,000 vehicles by 2010.
Head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance Carlos Ghosn believes that uptake for electric cars will be a gradual process, predicting that around 10% of vehicles sold worldwide will be powered by electricity in 2020.
It appears that electricity is emerging as the leading choice ahead of hydrogen or other alternative fuels in the race to power the automotive vehicles of the future.
The GreenCar Website further tells us that the Nikkei reports that Nissan is considering building the LEAF electric vehicle in the city of Guangzhou, having signed an agreement with the government in the city to set up an electric car program.