EVs and hybrids account one-fifth of car sales in China's biggest cities: Report

World's biggest car market China is increasingly moving towards electric vehicles. Accroding to data released recently, one in every five cars sold in the country are either electric or hybrid vehicles.

The data released by the China Passenger Car Association is based on six of the biggest cities in China.

The percentage of electric vehicle penetration for Beijing stands at 16% and for Guangzhou, it is at 13%. Shenzhen accounts for about 25% whereas Hangzhou has 21% and Tianjin has about 12% of EVs out of its consolidated car sales. This much higher than the 8% of EVs nationwide. As per the report, the consumers of the developed cities on the Chinese east coast have gone ahead with their preference for electric vehicles as compared to the rest due to consumer-friendly policies by the local government which includes easy accessibility to license plates.

However, Dongshu warned that this favourable policy may not last forever due to rising traffic jams and higher overall electric vehicle penetration. As per local media reports, Shanghai may start restricting license plate issuance for some small EVs such as SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co.’s Hongguang Mini. The report also states that cars that are shorter than 4.6 meters and cost under 100,000 yuan ($15,500) will not be given an advantage such as the issue of free plates.

Dongshu also added that the overall sales of electric vehicles may not be impacted whether these new regulations come into play or not. Also, recently China's tech giant Baidu started its paid driverless taxi service in Beijing making the company the first to commercialise autonomous driving technology.