Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD Co., the Chinese automaker backed by Warren Buffett, said China will become the world’s biggest market for electric cars as the government seeks to limit the country’s dependence on foreign oil, the BBC reported, citing an interview.
“For China, the one taking the first place is energy security, that’s more important than CO2 emissions,” Wang told the BBC World Service in a radio interview translated from Mandarin Chinese. “The new energy vehicle is very, very important because we don’t have enough petroleum resource.”
The Chinese government is promoting the use of electric vehicles alongside renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind farms in a bid to limit energy imports as the country’s rising incomes see more families purchase cars and domestic appliances, the BBC said.
Subsidies from the central government in Beijing and the city administration in BYD’s Shenzhen headquarters reduce the retail price of the company’s F3DM electric-gasoline hybrid car to 90,000 yuan ($13,700) from 170,000 yuan, Wang told the broadcaster.
