U.S. Gives Up Its 2015 Electric Vehicle Promotion Target

After Nissan, Volkswagen and other multinational car companies switched from hybrid electric vehicles to hybrid vehicles in 2012, the electric vehicle was once again involved in the Spring Festival. The United States Department of Energy, which had vigorously launched electric vehicles, said that the US’s goal of deploying 1 million electric vehicles by 2015 could not be achieved. “Demand weakness and reliability have been plaguing auto makers for the introduction of electric vehicles.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s position has profound reasons. In terms of sales volume, in 2012, pure electric vehicles sold 14,687 vehicles in the United States, which was only 0.1% of the total vehicle sales in the United States. Due to the safety technology of lithium batteries, the GM Chevrolet Volt electric car and Fisker's first plug-in hybrid sports car, Kama, all caught fire. In addition, the US electric vehicle industry chain is not very good. For example, battery company A123 has been purchased by Chinese parts and components company Wanxiang, electric vehicle company CODA is close to bankruptcy, Fisker company is reported to have been bid by four domestic car companies. The news, the status quo of the entire electric car can be described as "尴尬".

In 2012, the performance of electric vehicles in China was not satisfactory. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, 12,791 electric vehicles (including pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles) were sold in 2012, accounting for approximately 0.7% of all car sales in the year. However, in the “Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Planning (2012-2020)”, our country’s target is to accumulatively sell 500 million new energy vehicles in 2015 and 2 million in 2020. The gap between the two is still far.

Therefore, in the face of the relocation of multinational car companies and the United States abandoning its electric vehicle promotion target in 2015, the industry once again questioned China’s electric vehicle promotion target. The issue of whether to vigorously develop electric vehicles, which should not establish too large goals, and how to develop electric vehicles have become the focus of debate in the industry.

Electric vehicle strategy cannot move

“At present, electric vehicles seem to be cooling down on a global scale. This year's Detroit auto show also revealed such signs. In China, there are still many unknown factors for the development of electric vehicles. If we do not operate well, we have It may also be cold, but China’s determination to develop electric vehicles cannot be shaken because China and the United States have different national conditions,” said Wang Binggang, head of the supervision and advisory expert group of the National 863 “Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicles” major project.

He explained that from the point of view of energy, the US auto market has entered a mature period, and the number of new vehicles is relatively stable. The annual increment of new vehicles is mostly derived from replacement of used vehicles, and the demand for energy is also relatively stable. China's vehicle ownership keeps growing rapidly every year, and the demand for energy also increases. However, in 2012, China’s dependence on foreign oil has exceeded 50%. From the environmental point of view, China has repeatedly experienced a large range of hazy weather, and the sudden increase in PM2.5 has seriously affected the health of consumers. "These two points have determined that China's determination to develop electric vehicles cannot be shaken."

"Chinese and foreign development of electric vehicles face many of the same problems, such as car costs, mileage, charging facilities. As long as we stick to it, it is possible to break through these bottlenecks." Wang Binggang that one of the reasons for the current difficult to promote electric vehicles is the cost The reason for the high cost is that the battery is expensive. If the cost is reduced by reducing the number of batteries, the mileage will be too short. Therefore, with respect to the positioning of electric vehicles, China can start with micro and small electric vehicles to solve the problem of short-distance use and reduce costs at the same time. The state can provide adequate policy support in this regard. As for electric vehicles with long driving mileage and high performance, the cost problem can be solved gradually.

Wang Binggang said that the second reason for the difficulty in promoting electric vehicles is that infrastructure construction is not convenient and the efficiency is too low. “I think that the construction of supporting facilities should follow the idea of ​​facilitating consumers. The grid has built many large-scale charging stations, but these are not necessarily what consumers like. Consumers need the most to solve the problem of parking charges at night. After the car, can the power department quickly build a charging facility where it is parked and can it be recharged at home? However, there is currently no administrative way to solve this problem. This problem cannot be solved, and the slogan will be spoken again to discuss the importance of electric vehicles. Sex, consumers will not pay."

Previously, Shenzhen had introduced a measure that stipulated that as long as the private purchase of electric vehicles, property and power grids have an obligation to cooperate with him to build charging piles, but the implementation of the power is poor, the power grid is not enthusiastic. In other cities, there are no similar measures. Wang Binggang suggested that the administrative department should speed up the construction of charging facilities for private electric vehicles.

The Consumer Report of the United States pointed out that pure electric vehicles cannot meet the daily needs of vehicle owners and there are hidden dangers in reliability. For example, electric vehicle accidents have aggravated consumers' concerns about the safety of electric vehicles. In this regard, Wang Binggang believes that in the field of battery technology, there are quite a few companies in the country that have a good performance of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and their safety performance is certain. With the increase in output and the localization of raw materials, the cost is also rapidly declining. The performance has been gradually improved. In 2015, the performance of domestic lithium iron phosphate battery is expected to increase by 50%. The recycling of batteries is not a big problem. At present, the country is introducing measures to solve the problem of recycling.