ABSTRACT
New energy vehicles – including combustion engines using alternative fuels, electric cars, fuel cell vehicles and hybrids combining several of these technologies – are of high strategic importance for China, for several reasons. The rapid economic growth during the past decades has resulted in a steep increase in energy consumption. Although China is a notable oil producer, energy imports have surged and China has become the world’s second largest oil importer. A large number of projects focusing on renewable energy and new energy technology have therefore been developed in recent years to reduce the dependence on imported energy. For example, China has become the world’s leading wind power investor (Liu and Kokko, 2010) and substantial resources are being invested to develop photovoltaic technology (Wang, 2010). The development of new energy vehicles is linked to this broad effort to increase self-sufficiency in the energy field. As in other parts of the world, investments in new energy vehicle technologies are also connected to environmental arguments, with reductions in CO2 emissions and other air pollutants as important objectives. Moreover, while Chinese automotive companies are far behind their regional and Western competitors when it comes to traditional automotive technologies, they are hoping to establish a stronger position in new energy vehicles (Sun, 2010).
