BYD e6 electric vehicle used as a taxi in Shenzhen, China. Image via Wikipedia/Brücke-Osteuropa
Chinese lawmakers are thought to be working on a string of new standards for its electric vehicle industry in a bid to slash carbon emissions in their production and to drive standards that could be adopted worldwide.
According to a report from Reuters, China wants to improve the laws and regulations governing its electric vehicle sector to slash the country’s levels of city smog, which is caused partly by vehicle emissions and partly by industry, including coal-fired power plants.
Over the next few months, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will implement new rules across recharging, fuel consumption and battery design.
The aim is to make it easier for Chinese electric vehicle developers to develop to universal standards, making adoption easier. The country is also the biggest maker of electric vehicles, with a market already larger than the US or Western Europe.
Last year, Chinese car manufacturers sold around 777,000 electric vehicles, and the market is growing fast. China’s government wants to to see sales of two million a year by 2020, said the Ministry. Those sales far outstrip those of the US, while China’s biggest electric vehicle producers sell more units than Tesla.
As such, standards established in China are likely to be adopted elsewhere.
In a statement, the Ministry confirmed that it will also roll out standards and benchmarks for electric and plug-in cars abroad. China wants to compete with countries such as the US and UK when it comes to electric vehicle standardisation.
The Ministry suggested that it will ink deals with foreign and domestic firms.
The news comes as a new report from analyst firm Research and Markets suggests that China has the world’s largest electric vehicle battery market, which is driven by “significant demand for electric vehicles coupled with the largest consumer base in the world”, it claimed in a report.
It continues: “Almost all the major manufacturers in China have introduced electric vehicles in their product portfolio, and additional electric vehicle offerings from international brands have increased the choices available to consumers.”