Electric cars exempt from Beijing road space rationing

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-07

Tesla's P85D at a press event in Beijing on April 3. (File photo/CNS)

The Beijing city government announced on April 2 the continued implementation of traffic restrictions this year. Electric vehicles are exempted from the measure as an effort to boost the ownership of green energy cars, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

Traffic rationing, or road space rationing, was first introduced in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics to relieve heavy traffic by restricting the number of cars that could enter common road space based on the last digit of the license plate number on certain days or during certain periods of time.

The outcome was so successful that the policy has been implemented on a permanent basis, mainly aimed at reducing the amount of exhaust emissions from motor vehicles, a major source of pollution in many of China's large cities.

Another way to tackle air pollution is to increase the ownership of new energy vehicles. To promote the use of electric cars, the Beijing government has kept exhaust-free passenger vehicles out of the traffic rationing policy.

Issues such as low battery life, incompatibility of batteries and higher costs have been major hurdles for consumers. Compared to the 164 bids for each license plate on conventional gasoline-powered vehicles during the first license lottery this year, there were more than enough for those applying for new energy cars. Many of the 20,000 licenses available for electric vehicles were left unclaimed.

There is still much work to be done if the city government is to heat up the tepid electric car market, said the report.