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According to the data released by China"s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the nation rolled out 3,770 new energy vehicles in May, up by 98.32% year on year. Among them, the number of plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles stood at 539 units, down by 4.26% year on year. The number of electric commercial vehicles totalled 366 units, down by 29.21%.
The data given above indicate that new energy vehicles are facing increasing challenges while in the process of marketization. From Jan. to Apr. this year, Yutong sold 1,400 plus new energy buses, claiming half of the market while other mainstream bus manufacturers only delivered ordinary performances.
Despite governments" continued efforts to marketize new energy buses, their application on a wide scale is yet to be seen. To maintain a fast growing momentum, parties involved must take active measureas to deal with some difficulties.
First, despite subsidies offered by both central and local government, electric buses remain high in price for many cities. It is still a luxury for many cities to buy a vehicle priced at 1.5 million RMB. Shenzhen, which is one of China"s richest cities, now only has 1,200 electric buses in operation. It is revealed that the city is planning to buy another 2,000 units of electric buses by the middle of 2016. Taking the subsidies of 500,000 RMB for every vehicle into account, the city government still needs to pay a bill of one billion RMB.
Second, the majority of China"s cities have not yet built comprehensive recharging facilities for plug-in vehicles. Third, there is still a long way to go before mainstream public transport companies to recognize new energy vehicles. Many are still doubtful about the current green vehicles" reliability and fuel efficiency. Plus, the local protectionism is still a big problem yet to be solved. The encouraging news is that now related governments have promised to combat such a problem. Many companies have expressed their sincere wish for the establishment of sound checking and monitoring mechanism, which is essential for the promotion of new energy buses.