China has been working very hard in the past few years to alter its reputation from being a mass polluter, to being an international green activist. First it was the mass Beijing clean up operation for the Olympics, then the investment of 175 billion in a country wide clean up, the closure of dirty coal power plants, and finally, the launch of subsidies to the buyers of new energy vehicles.

CCT previously reported on China’s efforts to take their runaway car industry down the green road earlier this month, many people were waiting with baited breath to see what the policies, and subsidies were before jumping on the green automotive bandwagon. The subsidies were to be available for 13 cities, as part of an experiment before rolling the policies out nationwide. The cities that stand to benefit from the policies are Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Changchun, Dalian, Hangzhou, Jinan, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Hefei, Changsha, Kunming and Nanchang.

The subsidies will be available for private buyers, as well as governmental departments that buy energy saving buses, coaches, and other public transport vehicles. To qualify for the subsidy, hybrid cars must reach an energy saving goal of 5% or higher, whilst the requirements of coaches and buses are set at 10% or higher. In addition, the batteries of the hybrid vehicles (both private and public use vehicles) must last for a minimum of three years, or 150,000km before needing maintenance, or replacement.

The new subsidies will go some way in accelerating the take up of hybrid vehicles in China, which still remains a niche market monopolised by expensive vehicles such as the 250,000rmb Toyota Prius, and the similarly priced Honda Civic hybrid. However, the launch of domestically made hybrids such as the BYD F3DM and the Chery A5 ISG, as well as other up and coming models, will mean that take up of hybrids will soon accelerate ten fold.