"By 2035, new energy vehicles will become the mainstream of new sales vehicles", "improve the infrastructure network of charging (replacement) power stations, hydrogenation (alcohol) stations, and shore power", and "promote the development of the whole chain of hydrogen energy"... On August 11, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), making comprehensive arrangements for further promoting green and low-carbon development, including the automobile industry. "The Third Plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out the direction of accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and the" Opinions "issued by the CPC Central Committee and The State Council have made systematic planning and overall deployment for accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and have important guiding significance for the automotive industry to achieve green transformation, low-carbon environmental protection and high-quality development." Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the China Automotive Engineering Society, said in an interview with a reporter from China Automotive News that the automobile industry connects the upstream and downstream many industrial chains and plays an irreplaceable important role in green transformation and low-carbon development. At present, China's new energy vehicles still maintain steady growth, and have become a pioneer in leading the green transformation.

 

New energy vehicles lead the green transformation

 

"Opinions" proposed to promote low-carbon transport. Vigorously promote new energy vehicles, and promote the electric replacement of urban public service vehicles. We will speed up the elimination of old means of transport and promote zero-emission freight transport. By 2035, new energy vehicles will become the mainstream of new sales vehicles. It is also proposed to carry out activities such as new energy vehicles to the countryside.

 

"The direction of the Opinions is very clear, that is, to vigorously promote new energy vehicles, unswervingly promote green transformation, which is also the future development direction emphasized by the Third Plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party." An Qingheng, director of the China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee, said in an interview with a reporter from China Automotive News that the "Opinion" proposed the electric replacement of urban public service vehicles, which is not only the results of electrified urban residents, but also the carrier that can make the results of green transformation benefit the people to the greatest extent. Moreover, in recent years, in the promotion of new energy vehicles, passenger cars are faster than commercial vehicles, and the "Opinions" propose to promote zero-emission freight transport, which has a certain pertinency.

 

Up to now, Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other cities are vigorously promoting the electrification of urban taxis and buses. According to the recently issued "Shanghai Transportation field large-scale facilities and equipment update special work plan (2024-2027)", it is planned that by the end of 2027, Shanghai buses and taxis will fully realize new energy.

 

In fact, as early as October 2020, the "New energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") issued by The General Office of the State Council, put forward the goal of "by 2035, pure electric vehicles become the mainstream of new sales vehicles". Wang Xiaoming, director of the Industrial science and Technology Innovation Research Department of the Institute of Science and Technology Strategic Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the reporter of China Automotive News that at the same time, from the "pure electric vehicles" in the "planning" to the "new energy vehicles" in the "Opinions", which is obviously to expand the coverage of models, and pay more attention to the actual effect of energy conservation and emission reduction.

 

"At present, the replacement effect of new energy vehicles on fuel vehicles is gradually increasing." Wang Qing, deputy director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of The State Council, believes that the new energy vehicle market in 2027 is in the stage of rapid replacement of fuel vehicles, and the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China will reach 30 million in 2030. Thus, by 2035, the goal of new energy vehicles becoming the mainstream of new sales vehicles can be basically achieved.

 

In recent years, the multi-sectoral organization of new energy vehicles to the countryside has achieved initial results, and from 2022 to 2023, the penetration rate of rural electric vehicles has risen from 4% to 17%, with a significant increase. "The activities of new energy vehicles to the countryside have shown initial results in vigorously promoting new energy vehicles and accelerating the green transformation from cities to villages." Fu Yuwu said that according to the requirements of the Opinions, it is necessary to insist on this activity and add more strength to the green transformation.

 

Infrastructure development still needs to be strengthened

 

The "Opinions" also put forward the construction of green transportation infrastructure. We will improve charging (replacement) power stations and other infrastructure networks, and accelerate the construction of urban smart traffic management systems. We will improve the urban and rural logistics distribution system and promote the transformation of green and intelligent distribution methods.

 

The latest data show that as of July 2024, the member units of the China Charging Alliance reported a total of 3.209 million public charging piles. From August 2023 to July 2024, about 83,000 new public charging piles will be added every month, with an incremental ratio of 1:3.

 

Although the growth rate of charging infrastructure is obvious, the problem of uneven distribution across the country, the difficulty of building piles in some residential communities, and the problem that the power expansion of residential communities cannot keep up with the development of new energy vehicles still exists in some regions to varying degrees. "The charging peak, especially the charging peak of fast charge, overlaps with the peak of residential electricity consumption, especially in the summer, which will increase the tension of electricity consumption and the pressure of peak regulation." Wang Qing said that the "Opinions" clearly pointed out that "improvement" is the direction, so it is necessary to moderately advance the layout of charging infrastructure, play the guiding role of the government, and optimize and improve the layout of charging infrastructure through big data and policy improvement. It can also use the difference of peak and valley electricity prices to guide consumers to charge at night when electricity consumption is low, and improve the policy of reverse charging back to the grid.

 

"In particular, the construction of charging infrastructure on expressways will help solve the problem of waiting for electric vehicles to charge during holidays." An Qingheng believes that improving the construction of charging and replacing infrastructure network is the basis for vigorously promoting new energy vehicles and accelerating green transformation.

 

"The relevant requirements in the Opinions are closely related to automobile intelligence and other related scientific and technological innovation." Wang Xiaoming said that on the one hand, to improve the urban and rural logistics distribution system, to promote the green and intelligent transformation of distribution methods, still need to rely on the power of scientific and technological innovation, not only vehicles to be electric, in specific parks and other scenes can also achieve unmanned vehicle logistics distribution, in fact, there are already enterprises and local demonstration operation. On the other hand, accelerating the construction of urban intelligent traffic management system, so that vehicles take the most smooth road, is not only the way out of urban traffic congestion, but also the path to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction, green transformation. Studies have shown that a pure electric or plug-in hybrid bus can reduce carbon emissions by about 1 ton a year.

 

The prospect of hydrogen energy industry chain is promising

 

The "Opinions" also made new deployments for the development of hydrogen energy, including the requirements for promoting the development of the full chain of hydrogen energy "production, storage and transportation", and plans to improve infrastructure networks such as hydrogenation (alcohol) stations.

 

Statistics show that from 2015 to the first half of 2024, the cumulative production and sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the country were 21,267 and 20,740, respectively. As of the first half of this year, China has 456 hydrogen refueling stations, which is still insufficient compared with the large number of gas stations or charging stations.

 

"The hydrogen energy industry has good prospects for development, but at present, there are still shortcomings in the promotion and application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the construction of hydrogen refueling stations in China, both technically and realistically." An Qingheng said that because there are still some problems in the field of hydrogen technology that have not been completely broken through, and the application of related technologies is immature, the main application scope is hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, and passenger cars are relatively few. The core difficulty in the construction of hydrogen refueling stations is that the policy still regards hydrogen as a dangerous chemical, and the requirements are very strict. Therefore, in accordance with the direction referred to in the "Opinions", the future must first make breakthroughs in technology and greatly improve the safety of hydrogen energy "production, storage and use" in order to pave the way for accelerating the application.

 

It is gratifying that relevant statistics show that so far, 29 provincial-level administrative regions in the country have issued special plans or implementation opinions for the development of the hydrogen energy industry, which has brought hope for future development and provided a broad basis for the landing of the relevant content of the Opinions.

 

The industry generally believes that the "Opinions" have brought a strong driving force for the development of energy-saving and new energy vehicles and accelerated green transformation. Wang Xiaoming said that the concept of "four new" put forward in the Party's 20th National Congress report, that is, new fields, new tracks, new kinetic energy, and new advantages, is actually an accurate generalization of the characteristics of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles and future industries, and this is also the intrinsic essence of new quality productivity. The new energy automobile industry gathers technological breakthroughs and the upgrading of market demand, and is also an important pillar leading the green transformation.

 

"In the past decade, China's new energy vehicles have gradually broken through and stood on the world's leading level of ten years." Fu Yuwu said that in accordance with the goals proposed in the "Opinions", the next decade will be a key decade for the popularization of new energy vehicles in China, which also means that the leading role of new energy vehicles in the economic and social green transformation will be more prominent. Only by earnestly implementing the requirements of the "Opinions" and accelerating the promotion and application of new energy vehicles can the automobile industry make greater contributions to the green transformation and innovative development of the economy and society.

 

China Automotive News, August 13, 2024