China may get nation-wide charging network
The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has quickly risen in a few short years to become the largest electricity transmission and distribution company in the world and plans to create a nation-wide electric-vehicle charging network. They had previously set up the infrastructure to charge the 55 lithium ion buses and over 400 other electric vehicles that served the athletes and staff of the Olympic Games. The ambitious company has now directed its subsidiaries to "speed up" the installation of charging stations in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and other cities that will serve as pilot programs. Once the bumps are smoothed out and the official "OK" is given, the plan is to forge ahead with the rest of the country.
That should be good news for the equally ambitious Chinese auto maker BYD Auto, which has plans to soon begin selling its plug-in hybrids and electric cars at home as well as abroad. China's Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, who is said to be an "expert" on electric cars expects 1,000,000 "new-energy vehicles," mostly comprised of electric cars, to be cruising the highways and byways of the nation and comprise as much as 10 percent of car sales as early as 2012. Sounds great! Now, what's our plan?
[Source: Gasgoo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 11:32PM (9/19/2008)
The obvious question is how the chargers will be. Inductive or conductive? How many amps and volts? What will the connector be? Blah blah blah. EVs don't absolutely need an infrastructure, so wait till there are plenty of EVs; then you can standardize.
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Stan Wellaway 6:12PM (9/18/2008)
So while some western countries dither, hesitantly trialling electric vehicles without fully committing to them, China is going to be up and running with a nationwide infrastructure that will give them the background against which they can press ahead with mass producing electric cars.
Meanwhile US presidential candidates fish for votes by promising to drill for more oil. Like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
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gorr 9:04PM (9/18/2008)
It's not impossible that the chinese people become healtier and richier then north-american in 6 months to 2 years. It can be the paradise of car and ride sharing with a possibility of 1.3 billions other car sharers. But seriously, i wish them bus and trains because there too many persons to live like us with 1 car every citizens, LOL.
They may be the first to produce and sale in north-america my dream car that im ordering here on internet. It's a car like genepax that make his electricity with a machine that consume water, but i want it 4 seats and rear wheels drive.
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Garry Golden 11:36AM (9/22/2008)
I'm glad to see two things-
1) China thinking beyond infrastructure for the combustion engine.
2) Recognition that 'plug ins' will require tremendous investments. It is not as simple as just tapping 'existing infrastructure'. We will need extensions.
I am glad to see batteries evolving, but skeptical of their long term viability against fuel cell systems. I believe that batteries and electricity are only a piece of the puzzle to electric propulsion systems. We must recognize the role of hydrogen fuel cells as complimentary to battery systems.
While fuel cells are often attacked in blog comment sections, the cost of hydrogen fueling stations are likely to be far less than these recharge stations. And the density of solid state storage could be a clear advantage for atoms over electrons. I believe we have more choices than batteries alone.. and need to consider near-term vs long-term investments of plug in stations for electrons vs hydrogen storage.
So I'm glad to see the real world applications (esp in China) of plug-ins but also think we need to think wisely about where we want to put our resources.
Cars are not iPods- and it is hard to imagine batteries being the platform for electric motors in the decades ahead.
I've written a post on a new blog - The Energy Roadmap -- on how to think about vehicle power systems and future fueling infrastructure!
http://tinyurl.com/4n6m7j
Thanks for the news!!!
Garry G - Editor, TheEnergyRoadmap.com
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