The Development and Impact of New Energy Vehicles in China

The Development and Impact of New Energy Vehicles in China Student’s Name Institution Introduction China currently has the most considerable stock of new energy vehicles with cumulative sales of three million units last year. These sales comprise of automobiles such as passenger cars and buses all developed in China. In China, new energy vehicles highlight electric vehicles that can be efficiently utilized by the public. Some of these electric vehicles such as the low-speed energy vehicles are highly flexible and affordable to consumers and therefore has enhanced transport in most residential areas in China (King, 2016). The paper will analyze how China has developed new energy vehicles in association with the sales and the growth of the transport sector in the global market. It will also assess the impact of new energy vehicles in China. Analysis Since 2015, China has remained a global leader in the sales of the plug-in electric car market with yearly sales of over one million plug-in passenger cars from 2015 to 2017. These figures account for over half of the worldwide plug-in car sales which were documented in 2017. A specific component of the Chinese passenger electric vehicle is the vast number of small entry-level automobiles which are present in the Chinese electric plug-in market. In 2015, this accounted for over eighty-seven percent of all the pure electric car sales (Cobb, 2017). China is the leading market in the development of electric buss worldwide. Between 2014 and 2015, the Chinese electric bus stock grew significantly and by 2017, as China was developing 385,000 units (Cobb, 2016). This represented ninety-nine percent of the entire global stock. Furthermore, China is a global forerunner in the electrification of various modes of transport with over four million low-speed electric cars (LSEVs) and almost two million electric two-wheeled vehicles. With the extensive development of the Chinese transport sector, government political support was necessary to enhance its growth. This has led to the development of four objectives by the government to support the adoption of electric vehicles (Howell, Lee & Heal, 2014). These goals include: * The creation of a world-leading industry that would elevate the employment industry. * Energy security to reduce the over-dependence of various sectors on oil from the Middle East * The reduction of urban air pollution * A significant reduction of carbon emissions to improve the state of the environment. In 2009, the Chinese government initiated a plan that would elevate the current state of automotive technology through the development of a new energy vehicle market. This would be accomplished by becoming a global leader in the creation of all-electric and hybrid automobiles (Howell, Lee & Heal, 2014). However, research conducted by McKinsey & Company discovered that even though the manufacture of new energy vehicles would lead to the reduction of air pollution, this outcome would not be highly significant. This is primarily due to China’s use of coal energy in the production of electricity which stands at about seventy-five percent. Mainly for acquiring massive profits in their development of new energy vehicles, the Chinese government primarily focuses o...