BMW predicts that China will
become the world's largest market for electric vehicles as more
charging infrastructure is built and the government promotes cleaner
cars to cut pollution.
Electric vehicles such as Tesla Motors’ Model S (above) are expected to
be in demand in China as the government beefs up the charging
infrastructure.
China will reach that target in at most five years, said Mr Karsten
Engel, BMW's China head, at an event in Shanghai earlier this week
marking the carmaker's collaboration with the city's municipal power
company.
As part of the partnership, the State Grid will build public
charging points at the former World Expo site, one of 46 such areas the
city is targeting by the end of the year where owners of electric
vehicles can power their cars, according to Mr Fan Ye, general manager
of electric vehicles at State Grid Shanghai.
Mr Engel told reporters in Shanghai: "We expect that the Chinese car
market for electro-mobility will become the largest market for those
cars in a few years. Because you have supply now, there are cars coming
on the market. We are coming with ours, others are coming as well."
BMW joins Volkswagen among automakers betting on alternative-energy
vehicles to fuel future growth in the world's largest car market.
Volkswagen plans to unveil more than 15 electric models in China by
2018, Daimler is building such vehicles with Chinese carmaker BYD and
Tesla Motors delivered its first Model S cars in the country last month.
The public charging points at the former Expo site in Shanghai will
be compatible with electric vehicles made by BMW and other brands,
including BYD and SAIC Motor, though not for Tesla's cars, according to
Mr Fan.
Tesla has said it plans to install a large supercharger network in China.
Mr Engel said BMW expects to start selling its i3 in China in September, offering the model and the i8 in seven dealerships.
The German carmaker will probably sell fewer than 1,000 units of the
i3 this year in China because of a lack of supply, he added.
That said, he added that BMW will be "happy" to sell more than 400,000 cars in total in China this year.
The market will slow for the rest of the year after expanding faster
than anticipated in the first four months, is his assessment.
Five years after China began promoting new-energy vehicles, fewer
than 70,000 are on its roads, lagging behind the central government's
target of reaching 500,000 by next year.
