Govt offers incentives to electric car buyers

By He Wei in Shanghai ( China Daily)

11/6/12

China's first indigenous purely electric supermini car hit the market on Monday as part of agovernment-sponsored project to encourage the use of energy-saving vehicles.

Roewe E50 buyers in Shanghai could save around 100,000 yuan ($16,000), thanks togovernment subsidies and an upcoming local policy waiving license plate fees, according tocompany sources.

The E50, a purely electric vehicle, is the result of three years' research and development byShanghai Automotive Industry Corp, said Shen Ling, public relations manager of thecompany's new energy department.

The car applies advanced energy-saving and safety technologies to ensure zero emissions,she said.

Although the new model officially retails at 220,000-240,000 yuan, buyers may enjoy steepdiscounts as the government and automakers strive to promote new-energy vehicles.

Under a central government notice, a rebate of up to 60,000 yuan is offered on the purchaseprice to buyers of battery-powered cars, and the Shanghai municipal government is offering asubsidy of up to 40,000 yuan.

A move which could give the sector a further shot in the arm is a policy due to be unveiled bythe Shanghai authorities offering free license plates to owners of electric vehicles.

According to Shen, the decision, which is subject to the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission, is likely to be implemented "very soon".

Other than government incentives, auto manufacturers are seeking to drum up buyers' interestwith value-added services.

Meanwhile, SAIC is finalizing plans to offer discounts on group purchases by businesses, sheadded.

Shen said the company has set no sales targets for the new model. But SAIC chief engineerLing Tianjun said in August that it expects to sell 1,000 vehicles next year.

The launch of the car on the retail market will be a step forward for new-energy vehicles inChina, as the majority are currently owned by government bodies or used for publictransportation.

The average energy conversion rate of electric vehicles is 46 percent higher than conventionalcars, and they have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 68 percent, saidRaymond Tsang, a partner at Bain and Company.

Apart from purely battery-powered electric vehicles, hybrid cars, which run on a combination ofbatteries and conventional engines, are also popular as they are easier to operate, he said.

China's strategy to develop new energy cars has gained ground on many fronts, according toWang Tianwei, policy director of the policy coordination department of Jiading Auto City inShanghai.

On the policy front, the development of the electric vehicle industry has been a priority of theMinistry of Science and Technology for more than a decade.

On the regulatory front, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the NationalDevelopment and Reform Commission have issued at least 20 regulations over the pastdecade to regulate and promote the wider use of hybrid and electric vehicles.

The target was to make the country a world leader in electric vehicles by putting 500,000 onthe road by 2011.

But Wang said the deadline has been extended to 2015 as a result of technological constraintsand a lack of policy coordination.

Battery performance remains the greatest threat to the credibility of electric vehicles inmotorists' eyes. Wang said Chinese companies still lag far behind their competitors in the Westin battery technology.

A study conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs saidChina holds just 1 percent of the total patent registrations for lithium ion batteries, while Japanowns 52 percent and the United States has 22 percent.

The other common concern is a lack of recharging stations, he said.

SAIC has set up 1,170 recharging stations in Shanghai, but most of those are in suburbanareas.

Tao Weishuo, a veteran motorist in Shanghai, said that despite all the incentives he was stillreluctant to buy an electric vehicle.

"The shortage of recharging stations in the city center would limit where I could drive. What'sthe point of owning a car if it fails to take me anywhere I want?"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-11/06/content_15881637.htm

Will Truckers Ditch Diesel? Surplus of Natural Gas Prompts Some Fleets to Switch; Lack of Fueling Stations

By REBECCA SMITH

Wall Street Journal

May 23, 2012

Rising diesel costs last year forced Waste Management Inc. to charge customers an extra $169 million, just to keep its garbage trucks fueled. This year, the nation's biggest trash hauler has a new defensive strategy: it is buying trucks that will run on cheaper natural gas.

In fact, the company says 80% of the trucks it purchases during the next five years will be fueled by natural gas. Though the vehicles cost about $30,000 more than conventional diesel models, each will save $27,000-a-year or more in fuel, says Eric Woods, head of fleet logistics for Waste Management. By 2017, the company expects to burn more natural gas than diesel.

"The economics favoring natural gas are overwhelming," says Scott Perry, a vice president at Ryder Systems Inc., one of the nation's largest truck-leasing companies and a transporter for the grocery, automotive, electronics and retail industries.

The shale gas revolution, which cut the price of natural gas by about 45% over the past year, already has triggered a shift by the utility industry to natural gas from coal. Vast amounts of natural gas in shale rock formations have been unlocked by improved drilling techniques, making the fuel cheap and plentiful across the U.S.

Now the shale-gas boom is rippling through transportation. Never before has the price gap between natural gas and diesel been so large, suddenly making natural-gas-powered trucks an alluring option for company fleets, rather than an impractical idea pushed mainly by natural-gas boosters like T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman. Railroad operators also are being affected as coal shipments declining.

Many fleet operators, particularly long-haul truckers, remain concerned about a scarcity of refueling stations. Other challenges include the bulky tanks for compressed gas and the hazards of handling liquefied gas. In the past, the volatility of natural-gas prices also hampered wider use.

But today, truck manufacturers are embracing natural gas for everything from bi-fuel pickup trucks like the Chevy Silverado HD to eighteen-wheelers that can burn natural gas either compressed, called CNG, or super-chilled, called LNG. Navistar International Corp., Cummins Inc. and General Motors Co. all are courting the market with new natural-gas powered trucks or engines.

Navistar's goal is to "expand to a full range of products using natural gas in the next 18 months," says Eric Tech, president of Navistar's engine business. This year, the Illinois company is introducing delivery trucks burning natural gas. Next year, it is adding long-haul trucks with its biggest engines. 

Mr. Tech says in a couple of years, one in three Navistar trucks sold will burn natural gas. "This is not a subsidy-driven market," Mr. Tech says. "It's developing on its own because the economics are compelling."

Companies like United Parcel Service Inc. and AT&T Inc. are buying the vehicles. AT&T recently ordered 1,200 Chevrolet Express cargo vans equipped to run on compressed natural gas, which GM said was its largest CNG vehicle order ever.

Ryder Systems began renting out natural gas trucks in California last yea. The response has been so strong Ryder is expanding the program to Michigan and Arizona. And it is introducing them in truck clusters it operates for big box retailers like Staples Inc. and manufacturers including carpet-maker Mohawk Industries Inc.

For years, a barrel of oil cost about as much as six units of natural gas and their prices moved in tandem, notes Don Mason, a gas-industry consultant in Ohio. Today, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude costs more than 33 times as much as a unit of natural gas in the U.S. At the pump, a gallon of diesel often costs more than twice as much as CNG, on a diesel-gallon-equivalent basis.

"I think we're at a turning point, even if it's a slow, wide turn," Mr. Mason says.

Although the U.S. has loads of natural gas, adoption of natural gas vehicles has been spotty. Less than 0.1% of vehicles on American roads burn the fuel today and the percentage sagged slightly from 2005 to 2010, when federal policies encouraging their use waned. The number began edging up last year, lifted by market forces.

Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific region, natural gas vehicle sales have grown at an average annual clip of 42% during the past decade, according to NGV Global, a trade group formed in 1986 to promote gas-friendly policies. Pakistan led the list in 2010 with 2.7 million natural gas vehicles, though many are tiny tuk-tuks, out of a total of 13 million natural gas vehicles worldwide. The U.S. came in 14th with 112,000 natural gas vehicles.

Many people are trying to figure out whether natural gas really has legs as a transportation fuel. Greg Burns, chairman and chief executive of PLS Logistics Services Inc. in Pittsburgh decided this year to ask 100 trucking company executives. The result: eight in 10 respondents said natural gas in its densest form, as LNG, has potential for highway use. Nearly a third said they were actively researching it for their own companies. But 54% said current infrastructure is inadequate and 23% worried about the higher cost of the trucks.

Mr. Burns' conclusion: "If you have a long-enough time frame, it's a pretty bullish picture."

Some truckers soon will have the ability to hedge their bets. That is because the Environmental Protection Agency recently approved retrofit technology for big rigs that lets them burn LNG and diesel.  Kathryn Clay, executive director of the Drive Natural Gas initiative of the American Gas Association, says "the new technology is really game changing because the trucker can run on either fuel, eliminating refueling anxiety."

The potential market is enormous. The 3.2 million big rigs on U.S. roads today burn some 25 billion gallons of diesel annually. Almost 7 million single-unit trucks, such as UPS or FedEx Corp. trucks, consume another 10 billion gallons of diesel.

Converting even a modest number of these trucks, which often get 5 to 8 miles a gallon, to natural gas could save significant amounts of money. Tailpipe emissions also would drop, since natural gas burns cleaner than diesel or gasoline.

If large numbers of fleet operators decided to embrace natural gas, it could rev up truck manufacturing, which slowed dramatically during the recession. North American heavy duty truck sales peaked in 2006 with 360,000 units, just ahead of tighter emission standards, and plunged to 110,000 units in 2009.

Noel Perry, principal at Transport Fundamentals Inc., a trucking research company in Lebanon, Penn., says one disadvantage of natural gas is that it isn't as dense as diesel. CNG is only 25% as dense and LNG is 60% as dense. That means trucks need more tanks or bigger tanks to go as far, or they must refuel more often. That's not a big deal for city buses or delivery trucks that go back to home base each night, where they can refuel. But it's a problem for trucks that drive unpredictable routes or venture out into the hinterland.

Ann Duignan, managing director at J.P. Morgan Equity Research, says "there's huge excitement" about natural gas but infrastructure immaturity will depress truck sales. She expects fastest adoption among fleets that can run on CNG and return home each night but is skeptical about long-haul trucking. "It will be slow, steady, one-fleet-at-a-time type growth," she says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577422192910235090.html

ConEd Could Be Raising Rates Even Higher As The Size Of The City's Electric Vehicle Fleet Explodes

Jaclyn P. Bouchard | Dec. 5, 2011, 3:23 PM
Business Insider


In order to power the largest electric vehicle (EV) fleet in the nation Manhattan is about to have as many charging stations as gas stations.

The city is home to 48 old-school filling stations while the number of charging stations is currently at 40 and growing by the month.

Under PlaNYC, a comprehensive sustainability program, the City of New York partnered with Consolidated Edison, has invested $130 million in 26,500 hybrid and EVs across all city agencies such as the fire and police departments.

Over 4,000 Smith Electric hybrid commercial trucks are already streaming across Manhattan with that number expected to increase to 140,000 over the next decade, with even the New York Taxi & Limousine Commission committing to a Nissan Leaf pilot program.

Con Edison is watching these numbers closely and has set up a section of their website outlining specific  charging plans that won't disrupt energy flow to the city. Plugging in during off peak hours after 10:00 p.m. and before 10:00 a.m. will be key.

To that end the utility company could raise its already high rates to keep drivers from plugging in any time but off peak. 

Whether New York is ready or not, change is coming, money is invested, and the plan has been set — now we know where all that tax money goes.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/coned-could-be-raising-rates-even-higher-as-citys-electric-vehicle-fleet-grows-2011-12#ixzz1fic01qEp