Beijing Revives the Electric Car?

Beijing and cars go hand in hand these days, whether people are snapping them up or using them to clog up the streets. Beijing has decided to push the purchase of electric and hybrid cars, a move that seems will only add the astronomical number of cars on the road as opposed to fixing some of its pollution problems.

Today China Daily reported, “The government plans to promote 30,000 new-energy vehicles in Beijing by the end of 2012, of which 23,000 will be electric vehicles and 7,000 hybrids.” The government intends to offer subsidies up to RMB 50,000 for hybrids and 60,000 for electric cars. Also, in order to meet the electric demand they plan on building 100 recharging stations in the city.

The plan to push for lower emission vehicles faces a few problems since electric cars aren’t available in Beijing at the moment.

This new push for putting any type of car on the road comes days after Beijing hit record highs for the number of new vehicles appearing in a week. With 18,000 new cars hitting the road last week – an average of 2,571 per day – Beijing doubled the weekly figure that has been consistent throughout the year.