Economic Observer Online
By Liu Xiaolin (劉曉林)
Jan 23, 2013
Translated by Zhu Na
Original article: [Chinese]

Recently, Shanghai issued the first free license plate for a new energy vehicle to a white Rowe E50 electric car.

It costs 125 yuan to apply for the new plate, compared to auction prices of up to 70,000 for a normal Shanghai plate. This gap has brought a lot of interest in the new scheme.

There will be 20,000 of these new plates issued in the city this year. On Dec 28, 2012, Shanghai launched the policy to encourage new energy vehicles, saying people can also enjoy existing national and local subsidies in addition to the new plate.

The Rowe E50, which has a battery power capacity of 18 kWh, can also enjoy a national policy giving a 3,000 yuan subsidy per kWh and a 40,000 yuan subsidy from the city of Shanghai. The car currently sells for 234,900 yuan, but with these policies, consumers can spend just 140,900 yuan.

According to incomplete statistics by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, 12,791 new energy vehicles were sold in China last year while domestic manufactures produced 12,552. The 2012 production and sales of pure electric vehicles increased by 98.8 percent and 103.9 percent respectively compared to 2011.

Links and Sources
Economic Observer:  Wang Chuanfu on BYD\'s Future