Charging stations and subsidies needed to promote green cars

Shanghai was hit badly by heavy smog at the beginning of this month, bringing visibility down to a few dozen meters, delaying flights and harming the health of residents. Now, Shanghai authorities have pledged to get more green cars and buses on the road to reduce emission. But going green is not an easy process.

Shanghai suffered one of its worst bouts of air pollutions at the beginning of December. Promoting green vehicles to reduce carbon emissions has never seemed so important and urgent to the city.

Shanghai began promoting green cars on a large scale since the Expo in 2010, and has been chosen as the pilot city for two national green vehicle projects.

"There are more than 2,000 green vehicles in Shanghai now, including full electric, super-capacitor, hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles." said Liu Jianhua, Director, Shanghai New Energy Vehicles Promoting Office.

However, this pace is falling far behind the city's plan. Shanghai authorities set a target of 20,000 private green cars in the city by 2015. And for at least 60% of the newly-commissioned buses to be new-energy vehicles. But a lack of power facilities in town is holding them back.

"It is difficult to find space to install these facilities in the city center, because it is too crowded and populous. Now the subsidy is mainly for car buyers, but we also need lots of money to build these facilities." said Du Chenggang, Director, Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company.

The Shanghai Bus Company is also calling for more subsidies for green buses. Running 120 green buses for almost four years, the company is losing 80 million yuan every year.

"Cost of green buses is 4.8 times that of traditional diesel-run buses. It is more expensive to buy, maintain and replace the batteries. It is a heavy burden for the company, and the authorities need to sort it out if they want to promote green buses on a larger scale." said Ye Xing, Director, Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority.

Buying a green car is a big commitment, especially when it is still at an early stage and support facilities are not sufficient. But with a few hundred Yuan, you can rent one for a test run.

"Customers can have a try, and then decide whether it is the right car for them. These cars are quite popular, the rental rate has been about 95% since we started the service in the middle of this year." said Cai Lihong, Vice CEO, EHI Car Service.

Promoting green cars is a long and costly process, and it needs efforts from the government, companies and individuals. Only by doing so, can reducing emissions and pollution become possible.