View of the charging facilities at the production site in Daxing district, Beijing, July 23, 2014. [Photo/IC]

Editor's note:

The Feb 24 meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, confirmed that a series of measures would be taken to support the new energy auto industry, in order to promote its development through structural optimization. Following are the comments of some media outlets on the issue:

Xinhuanet.com:

To protect and improve the environment, China has made robust efforts to develop new energy vehicles. However, due to problems such as high prices, inconvenience of charging batteries and a relatively short battery life, new energy automobiles have failed to attract car buyers despite the subsidies being offered.

The State Council meeting vowed to intensify research to achieve technological breakthroughs in the manufacture of batteries. Some administrative means, including subsidy provisions, will be used to encourage enterprises to increase their inputs in research and development and the use of innovative technology to lengthen the life of such batteries. To make it convenient for new energy car owners to charge the batteries, the meeting vowed to expedite the installation of battery-charging facilities in neighborhoods.

To popularize the use of new energy vehicles, the State Council meeting also said that more than 50 percent of the new cars central government departments buy will comprise such vehicles. This reflects the government's seriousness about promoting green vehicles.

The vow to develop the new energy auto industry is the right move toward innovation-driven green development of China's manufacturing sector. And as part of the country's efforts to save energy and reduce emission, it will play an important role in energy revolution.

Youth.cn:

Thanks to government policies and measures, China has made many achievements in research and development, and popularization of new energy automobile technologies and their application in recent years. What the government should do next is to take a market-oriented and innovation-driven approach, make breakthroughs in core technologies and overcome the existing technological restraints to accelerate the development of this sector.

Despite the government's policies to save energy and protect the environment, electric vehicles have failed to become the choice of car buyers. Perhaps the short mileage of electric car batteries and shortage of battery-charging facilities are to blame for that. But the policy measures approved by the State Council for research in new energy vehicles' battery technology are expected to come up with "revolutionary" breakthroughs in the use of such batteries.

That government departments' purchase of new cars should comprise more than 50 percent new energy vehicles is a reflection of the government's determination to develop new energy vehicles.

Also, the opening-up of the new energy auto market to non-government players is expected to lay the foundation for the sector's perpetual development. This, together with the well-targeted policies and measures, will make new energy cars popular for household use and usher in a new era of green vehicles.

CNR.cn:

Because of the supportive policies since 2013, the output of new energy vehicles have grown by nearly 400 percent in China - from 17,000 units to 379,000 units. This remarkable increase indicates the nurturing of new "dynamics" for China's "new economy".

The fact that more than 50 percent of the new cars central government departments buy should comprise new energy vehicles will act as a guiding principle for new car buyers, as well as help raise the quality of such vehicles.

However, deep public misgivings about the advantages of new energy vehicles, which have prevented more people from buying them, mean the sector is yet to overcome some technological barriers in its pursuit of wider development. Besides, the huge technological progress the traditional auto sector has continuously made has put more pressure on and created technological challenges for the new energy auto sector.

Despite a sharp increase in their quantity, new energy vehicles in China still need to raise their quality compared with world's leading technologies. It is precisely in this area that government policies are supposed to help.