Blog

California is well known as one of the most important markets for electric cars, partly thanks to the generous government incentives (Please see our articles on What You Can Get From Government for Getting an Electric Car in California – Part 1 and Part 2). According to Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative, in January 2016, California accounts for roughly 55% of electric cars sold in the US, or 3,692 units for California. In December 2015, California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) received 4,921 applications for buying electric cars, which is 37% of electric car sales in the US (13,403 units). Also, from 2011 to present, total electric car sales in California is 184,657, or 45% of national total sales.

For December 2015, let us also use the high 55% of the national total sales to estimate the electric car sales in California. As mentioned earlier, in December 2015, 13,403 electric cars were sold in the US. 55% of those for California would be 7,371 units.

Ok, now, 11,063 electric cars were added in California in the Dec 2015-Jan 2016 period.

During a similar 2-month period, 16,050 potential buyers applied for the eligibility on electric car registration in Beijing.

According to the notice from Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport on Feb. 9, 13,692 individuals and 2,358 business entities applied for the vehicle registration plate in the new energy vehicle category, during the 2-month window (Dec. 9 to Feb. 8). Most of them will receive the eligibility to buy and register an electric vehicle.

Beijing is limiting the annual number of car registrations for many years, as the metropolitan fights traffic jam and smog. In 2016, the total number of car registrations is limited to 150 thousand, in which 60 thousand are for new energy vehicles (51 thousand for individuals, 3 thousand for business entities and 6 thousand for rental). As we can tell from the numbers, Beijing is pushing very hard to promote electric cars.

Besides the high ratio of new energy vehicle registrations available, electric car applicants can receive the eligibility on a first-come-first serve basis. On the contrary, regular car applicants have to do lottery and a lot of them have been waiting for years. Imagine this: There are only 13,500 registrations available for individuals every 2 month this year, but there are 2,616,972 applications. That is 1 in 194!

Moreover, new energy cars in Beijing can use the bus lane (like the carpool lane in the US) and are not subjected to plate number policy (Beijing allows only cars with certain last digits on the plate to drive each day – another approach to deal with the traffic jam).

With 16,050 applicants for electric car registration, the 60 thousand limit for the year will be reached far before the year ends.

China has become the top country for new energy vehicle sales. In 2015, 331,092 units were sold, a 330% increase from the year before.  On the other hand, only 114,022 all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in the US, in 2015.  This number is even lower than the 118,773 units sold in 2014.

Also, 21.1 million cars were sold in China in 2015, as compared to 17.4 million in the US. China has been world’s top car market for 7 years in a row.