Beijing Vehicle Parc to Top 4M This Weekend; 25% of Permanent Residents Have a Car
16 December 2009
Xinhua. Beijing will have more than 4 million vehicles on the road this coming weekend, according to the municipal traffic management bureau.
New vehicle sales in the capital are maintaining about a 2,000 unit daily pace, and the number of cars in Beijing hit 3.99 million as of last Sunday.
No one will doubt the four million mark would be broke on the weekend, which means a quarter of the 16 million permanent residents in the city has a car. The number of vehicles in Beijing had increased by about 10,000 last week and the number of newly qualified drivers also increased 12,000 within a week, according to the bureau.
“Compared with other metropolises in the world, the growth of vehicles in Beijing is dramatic,” said Guo Jifu, researcher with the Beijing Municipal Communication Research Center.
It took 48 years to grow from 2,300 vehicles in 1949 to one million in 1997; the second million took 6.5 years; the third took 3 years and nine months; the fourth million is coming after 2 years and 7 months.
Vehicle kilometers travelled is also relatively high compared to some other major cities. The daily traveling distance of a car is 45 km in Beijing, while 19 km in Tokyo and 30 km in London.
Beijing City spreads out over a very wide area. PHEVs with (2 to 8) optional plug-in battery modules could accommodate various requirements.
If the current trend continues, China's vehicle population may double every 3 years and reach unbelievable numbers by 2030/2040.
With one vehicle for 4 people, the total would be over 3 billion and rising quickly.
Electrified vehicles may become a neccessity, specially for city uses.
Posted by: HarveyD | 16 December 2009 at 10:36 AM
China's decision to embrace the automobile instead of following another path to internal development will be seen as one of the unfortunate turning points in history, I fear.
Posted by: Nick Lyons | 16 December 2009 at 11:04 AM
This is where the growing demand for oil will come from. When 2 million cars goes to 20 million and heading for 200 million, the demand for oil will put the U.S. in a real bind. It is past time for some REAL solutions soon to head off the problems that we can see coming.
Posted by: SJC | 16 December 2009 at 11:25 AM
SJC - Massive early introduction of electrified vehicles + high speed electric trains may have to become part of the solution.
Shared small (10 to 12 passengers) electrified buses, driven by one of the user, would help to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and streets, specially during peak hours. One small electrified bus with 10 passengers would use a lot less energy and create a lot less pollution than 10 gas guzzlers.
A small electrified bus, when driven (free) by one one the user, can be more efficient than a huge 40-passenger diesel bus driven by a $60/hr unionized driver and be much more convenient.
There are many existing other ways to reduce oil consumption. We need the collective will to do it.
Posted by: HarveyD | 16 December 2009 at 12:25 PM
I don't think non union drivers are the solution. I would agree that many more smaller hybrid city buses would be more convenient for the riders and maybe more people would use them. There is a song with the line "waiting for the world to change" and that is what some people are doing.
Rather than go for what we can easily do to make the most improvement, some are saying that everyone should just change their habits and drive EVs. This is NOT likely to happen. Market as many EVs, HEVs and PHEVs as you can, more power to you, but if you want REAL change we have to do what we can NOW to reduce oil imports and IMO that is FFVs and cellulose E85.
Posted by: SJC | 16 December 2009 at 02:01 PM