Electric vehicles may not drive clean energy

By Cheng Zhenbiao
0 CommentsPrint E-mail Global Times, December 20, 2010
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Not long ago, the 25th World Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition was held in Shenzhen. This event has sparked renewed interest in China in clean energy vehicles.

It is good that the industry is extremely enthusiastic about electric vehicles, but a series of recent phenomena also show that many people have a biased understanding of electric vehicles.

Some people think that the development of new energy vehicles is the development of electric vehicles. There are also some people who copy the practices of foreign countries and blindly follow the trend without any deep study. They think at this stage the large-scale promotion of the use of electric vehicles is the only energy-saving measure in China.

In this regard, people should maintain a scientific and cool mind.

Emission reduction is truly decided by the source of the electricity you use. If electricity is taken from clean and renewable power generation facilities, such as hydro, wind and solar energy, the energy can be saved and emissions reduced. If taken from conventional energy sources such as coal, it is not necessarily so.

It is far-fetched to say electric vehicles are the future of the industry. Currently, about 80 percent of China's electricity comes from coal. Coal is dirty and greenhouse gas emissions are increased when we burn it.

Some European and North American countries are focusing on the development of pure electric vehicles to meet their specific demands. For example, in Norway, Sweden and Canada, with a water-based power structure, the development of pure electric vehicles is replacing oil with water. Electric vehicles in Germany will use clean renewable wind and solar energy. We can see that the development of new energy vehicles in China should take the road in line with China's national conditions, not blindly follow the trend.

It is difficult to widely adopt electric vehicles in a short period in China. Power shortage problems are not something that can be solved overnight. Blackouts for reducing carbon emission are now a part of everyday life in China. In such cases, we cannot provide a stable power supply for electric vehicles.

We need to reflect long and hard to come up with a plan to ensure our energy security and conservation. The Chinese government needs to control fuel consumption.

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