In contrast to the EU, China wants to remain open to different technologies in road traffic and, in addition to battery-powered electric vehicles, is also focusing on combustion engines powered by eFuels.
China is considered a pioneer in the field of renewable energy. By the end of 2022, the country had already installed around 414 GW of photovoltaic capacity - roughly as much as the USA, Japan, India, Germany and Australia combined. (Link to source) China is also a leader in wind energy, with around six times the gross amount of energy generated in Germany in 2022 (source).
China explicitly recognizes climate change and wants to become climate-neutral by 2060. However, while the EU wants to allow only electric drives for passenger cars and now also for commercial vehicles in the future, China remains open to new technologies and wants to continue using the combustion engine. The China Society of Automotive Engineers and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center have jointly developed the "Roadmap for Green and Low-Carbon Development of the Automobile Industry 1.0" under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. An English working translation is available to the VDMA, the paper in Chinese can be found here.
This is not a contradiction to China's climate protection plans, as the aim is to switch from fossil gasoline or diesel to fuels produced with renewable energy (eFuels). These eFuels can be used in existing vehicles and with the existing infrastructure; like fossil fuels, they are chemical energy carriers. They can be used to operate engines in a CO2-neutral manner. More about eFuels here.
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