News that Toyota is planning to start production of electric cars in China by next year is a sign of just how global the interest in electric cars is becoming. As the country looks for ways to reduce its pollution levels, the electric car looks like an important opportunity to reduce, or at least offset, the effects of continued mass-industrialisation.
The Ford Motor Company is also set to start testing electric cars in the Chinese market later this year.
But as well as Toyota and Ford, there are a number of far less well-known car manufacturers getting in on the action - Geely Automobiles and Dongfeng Motor Group are two home grown brands that are aiming to start selling electric cars very soon. And while these brands sound like the kind of cars for which a good level of breakdown cover is a necessity, they are actually very big players in the Chinese market; Dongfeng, for example, is aiming to sell an ambitious 100,000 vehicles be 2015.
As the Chinese middle class expands ever further, its demands for goods and services is set to increase a great deal over the next couple of decades. Instead of a relatively small section of the population enjoying Western-style living, there will be millions and millions of people – not only aspiring to it, but expecting it. With this in mind it is very good news that the Chinese government, global car manufacturers and more importantly, Chinese consumers, are making positive noises about this technology.
If there’s one place in the world that needs the electric car, it’s China; as the world’s biggest car market, it is also the world’s biggest polluter. Fingers crossed they grab the opportunity.
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