Beijing energy car body denies receiving Tesla application

The regulator that manages the new energy cars list in Beijing Wednesday told the Global Times that it has not received any application from new companies to file for new energy passenger cars, denying rumors saying that the Beijing government is preparing to put US electric car manufacturer Tesla on the new energy car list.

According to Gao Xia, a staff with the publicity department with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, the models which are eligible for the new energy car license plate quota are all from the list that was drawn up in February and March, covering seven models from domestic companies such as electric vehicle producer BYD and BAIC Motor, but not Tesla.

However, according to the news portal www.chinanews.com on Wednesday, the staff from the sales department of Tesla in Beijing said that the company is trying to get onto the city's new energy car list and thus help its customers benefit from the quota for new energy car license plates for Beijing.

In Beijing, new energy cars can enjoy double subsidies from the central government and the Beijing government, as well as the special license plate quota for new energy cars, which allows applicants to obtain car license plates more easily than regular passenger car owners in Beijing's license plate lottery.

Beijing set up this lottery to limit growing car ownership in 2011. In April, only one out of every 124 applicants was able to get a license plate in the lottery for non-new energy passenger cars in Beijing.