. But while this is a laudable result and great news for both China’s and global emissions, it’s not all it seems. The great leap in sales wasn’t due to bumper shipments of battery electric vehicles but plug-in hybrids .
The latest PHEVs now entering the market in China are a sea change from the first generation of this technology, which promised just 20-30 miles of battery-only driving . This often wasn’t even enough for a full commute. Today’s models offer many times that range. Geely’s brand Link & Co has just launched an SUV called the 08 that comes with a whopping 40kWh battery, which can provide 245km of pure-battery range.
“You get 40% better fuel consumption even if you don’t charge the latest PHEVs,” she claims. “But the cost gains of charging are obvious.” While a pure fossil fuel car in China might cost 0.7 RMB per mile to run, a PHEV running on its electric motor is more like 0.2 RMB per km . “With a car like the Link & Co 08, you only need to charge it once a week, so along with the cost saving there is a lot of incentive to charge. Workplaces now have chargers too.”, another company owned by Geely .
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