China Energy Outlook 2020 - Flipbook - Page 93
Transport Sector
China’s transport sector used 395 Mtce and was responsible for just over 9% of China’s total
primary energy use in 2018, having increased significantly from 1980 when the sector
consumed 29 Mtce, which was only 5% of total primary energy consumption. This period
witnessed profound changes in how goods and people move around China. From an early heavy
reliance on rail, China moved increasingly into expansion of road transport, constructing an
extensive national network of highways and roads and supporting the growth and
modernization of the motor vehicle industry. At the same time, air travel became more
prevalent as airports were constructed in all major cities. The emergence of high-speed rail
networks dramatically reduced the time for people to travel between cities. Due to heavy
dependence on petroleum, a rapid growth of the transport sector led China to become a net oil
importer in the 1990s and the largest oil importer in the world at present, leading to increasing
concerns over energy security.
Table 2-15 provides information on the key energy-related policies and programs for the
transport sector reviewed here. Three of the four are regulatory/administrative in nature – with
one combining this approach with economic incentives - while the fourth is an economic-based
policy that provides subsidies for specific advanced technologies vehicles.
Table 2-15. China’s Key Energy-Related Policies and Programs: Transport Sector
Policy/Program Type
Coverage
Current Status
Fuel Economy
Standards
New Energy
Vehicles
Dual Credits
Program
Accelerated
Retirement and
Phasing Out
Internal
Combustion
Engine Vehicles
Regulatory/
Administrative
Light-duty passenger vehicles,
heavy-duty vehicles, freight
vehicles, light-duty commercial
vehicles
Active fuel economy standards for
light-duty passenger vehicles (with
efficiency on-par with most
international standards) and
recently revised heavy- and lightduty commercial vehicle standards.
Economic
Subsidies and supporting policies Promotion of NEVs moved from
for battery and plug-in electric
pilot subsidies to national subsidies.
and fuel cell vehicles for
Subsidies for EV cars were cut
municipal fleets
substantially in March 2019, but
kept for fuel cell vehicles and buses.
Regulatory/
Passenger car companies that
Producers or importers of
Administrative; produce or import vehicles must
conventional passenger vehicles are
Economic
meet dual targets for corporate
provided dual credits to reduce fuel
average fuel economy and for
consumption while simultaneously
new energy vehicle production or increasing NEV production or
imports
imports.
Regulatory/
Phase out > 1 million medium and Polluting vehicles unable to meet
Administrative; heavy-duty diesel vehicles below national emission standards are
Motivational
the national III emission standards being phased out, and a national
in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area by phase-out timetable for all ICE
the end of 2020; requires heavyvehicles currently being developed.
duty diesel trucks to meet national
V emission standards
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