In an effort to stop the outflow of investments, and at the same time, reduce carbon emissions, China's National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce have announced a new policy that will relax the country's protectionist laws for electric vehicles — subject to public approval.

The global superpower has laws in force that require foreign automobile companies wanting to establish a Chinese production base to form partnerships with the local ones, and divulge their manufacturing process. This discourages external competition and protects the domestic manufacturers. But apparently China can't produce enough EVs by itself, so it's bringing in foreign companies.

As it stands, the government is rallying for its citizens to make the switch to EVs. China wants to have 5 million EVs rolled out on the roads by 2020, as a measure to combat its massive carbon footprint.

Photo credit: Andy Wong

This is backed up by studies which show that "electrification" of automobiles is a huge step towards being green. One of which shows that an across-the-table use of EVs reduces greenhouse gasses by 45 to 77 percent, carbon emissions by 80 to 100%, and air quality.

For a country that has been struggling with carbon emissions like China, EVs could be instrumental in achieving its goals. The relaxation of laws cultivates competition, which hopefully results in more EVs on the road, and more efficient models in the future.


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