Transportation
Can China Support Its (Eventual) Ban on Gas Cars?
Electric vehicles might be the future, but the country’s infrastructure has a long way to go before it can charge them.
If China can’t wean its 1.4 billion people off their dependence on cars, then perhaps it can at least fuel interest in cars that run on clean energy.
That appears to be the thinking from the country’s deputy industry minister, who, according to the state news agency Xinhua, announced last weekend that the country will ban the sale of fossil-fuel cars sometime “in the near future.” (Contrary to some media reports, he didn’t offer any specific timeline—only that “relevant research” is in the works.) The announcement comes at the heels of Britain’s and France’s declarations to ban gasoline cars in 2040, and after India’s commitment to phase out their oil-guzzling machines by 2020.