China Unveils EV, Plug-In Development Plan

China aims to put 500,000 domestically produced electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015 and reach annual output of 2 million such vehicles by 2020.

The central government's State Council says it is targeting a national fleet of 5 million new-energy vehicles, including fuel cell-powered models, by the end of the current decade.

Under the plan, the average fuel efficiency of all new passenger vehicles in China would improve from an unspecified level today to 34 mpg (6.9 liters/100 km) by 2015 and to 47 mpg (5.0 liters/100 km) by 2020. As a subset, new-energy vehicles would target a fuel economy average of 52.3 mpg (4.5 liters/100km) by then.

China mandates that vehicles developed under the initiative be able to achieve a top speed of at least 62 mph and travel at least 93 miles (EVs) or 31 miles (plug-in hybrids) in electric-only mode.

The State Council offers no details but says its plan will "vigorously" promote fuel stack research and the development of batteries and power system components. The government also pledges to support research and development of common-rail diesels, turbocharging, lightweight materials, powertrain control electronics, dual-clutch transmissions, automatics with six or more forward speeds and materials forming and laser welding systems.

The agency intends to foster two or three makers of electric drive motors and a similar number of battery makers with combined output of 10 billion watts of EV and plug-in storage capacity.