Beijing saw an increase of 17,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the first half of 2018, according to China.org.cn, China’s national online news service. By the end of June, a total of 188,000 BEVs had been sold in Beijing, accounting for 11.6% of the country’s total. Of that, 140,000 were sold to individuals and companies and 48,000 were used in the public sphere.

Beijing’s new energy automobile industry is also developing quickly. In the first half of this year, automaker BAIC BJEV sold 53,598 new energy vehicles, up 79% year-on-year. There are 130,000 charging stations all over the city, including 93,000 privately installed for home use, 20,000 accessible to the general public, and 17,000 installed for the public transport system.

Beijing government took the lead nationwide in abolishing the pre-registration system for new energy vehicles. In July 2018, the Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau and other relevant authorities jointly issued a new notice to subsidize new energy vehicles (including BEVs and fuel cell vehicles).

Under a draft version of the “Action Plan for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Smart Vehicles in Beijing (2018-2020),” by 2020, the total number of new energy vehicles sold in Beijing is to exceed 400,000.

To achieve that goal, Beijing will increase the usage of electric vehicles in key fields such as taxis, public transport, and logistics. By the end of 2020, the capital aims to expand the demonstration scale of battery electric taxis, and raise the proportion of newly-added taxis that use new energy to 80%.

The city will continue to promote the electrification of public transport, and all buses used in central urban areas and the sub-center will all be replaced by electric vehicles. In the fields of logistics, vehicles for postal services, express delivery (under 4.5 tons) and logistics distribution (under 4.5 tons) will be largely replaced with electric vehicles.