China's Shenzhen city to have 35,000 electric cars within 3 years

Shenzhen city in China plans to have 35,000 electric cars on its roads within three years, the city's vice-mayor Tang Jie said at an event in Hong Kong.

Shenzhen is building itself into a low carbon city after 30 years of rapid growth, Jie said at the the C40 Hong Kong Workshop on 'Low Carbon Cities for High Quality Living'.

The city is trying to become more low-carbon through expanding public transportation, constructing environment-friendly buildings, lowering investments in energy-consuming sectors, and encouraging residents to live and consume in a low-carbon way, Tang said.

It is now building recharging stations across the city, laying fundamental infrastructure for electric vehicles, Tang said at the conference.

China is likely to lead in the EV battery sector by 2020 driven by the country's huge demand, said C C Chen, president of the World EV Association & EV Association of Asia Pacific, at the workshop.

Earlier last month, China had said annual production of electric vehicles will hit one million units by 2020 and become world's largest auto market for new energy vehicles, which will hold the key for development of the country's auto industry.

The Chinese government is developing the industry of energy-saving and new-energy vehicles as part of its green drive. A pilot program has been set up to promote energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles in 25 cities and popularize use of electric vehicles with the government providing subsidies for buying vehicles.

The development of electric vehicles is likely to get a further boost following the Chinese science and technology ministry's plans to revise policies for its development between 2011 and 2015.

An estimated 8.5 billion Yuan ($128.3 billion) has entered the electric car industry so far from capital markets. This fund is likely to help build up the country's battery output, which will be capable of supplying 150,000 electric vehicles by October 2011.

China, which is world's producer of cars, has the world's second largest number of vehicles after the United States and is also world's largest auto market. With its economy projected to continue growth during the next decade, China faces a daunting task in reducing emission of greenhouse gases and conservation of energy.