China wants to present its own Tesla.
Policy influencers have recommended decreased regulations on the production of electric vehicles in the hopes that a domestic company will be able to challenge Tesla Motors and other carmakers, Bloomberg News reported.
The China Automotive Technology and Research Center has presented a draft of policy changes that would allow companies other than automakers to develop electric cars. The state-run center has proposed that two to three special licenses be issued to allow for EV production.
"Production licenses are hard to come by when China is trying to consolidate the industry," said Steve Man, a Hong Kong-based Asia automotive analyst at Bloomberg Industries. "This is a chance for China to take a global lead in EVs and transform itself into a technology leader in a mature auto industry that has traditionally been led by the West and its neighbors to the east."
As cities including Beijing become choked with smog, China has been taking steps to promote electric cars and decrease emissions.
If regulations are relaxed, companies like Wanxiang Group Corp., the Chinese auto-parts maker that owns Fisker Automotive, will be free to develop EV manufacturing. Fisker filed for bankruptcy late last year after making just one model, a plug-in hybrid sports car called Karma. Wanxiang is expected to build on its technology.
The timing is important since the window of opportunity to lead the green car industry is rapidly closing, said Wang Cheng, who has been heading the policy change project at the state-run research center.
"Traditional automakers are under pressure to maintain growth and have not devoted 100 percent to EVs," said Wang, as quoted by Bloomberg News. "The success of Tesla inspired both the industry regulators and players in the sense that a non-automaker can really make EVs work."
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