Eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Transport have issued a notice to designate 15 cities including Beijing as pilot cities for introduction of electric cars and buses.

The authorities plan to replace 600,000 vehicles, mainly buses, with electric ones. Undoubtedly, this will bring new development opportunities for China's new energy vehicle manufacturers. Since the automotive industry itself is a long-chain industry, countless market entities have grown up in the upstream and downstream.

When the demand side is activated, enterprises in the entire chain will find opportunities to grow, injecting new vitality at a time when the industry is facing uncertainty in recovery.

According to the Ministry of Transport, by the end of 2022, the proportion of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles in the national bus fleet had reached 76.7 percent, far ahead of other countries in the world.

China's pioneering strides in the field of urban green travel are serving as reference points for other countries. In 2021, the World Bank issued a case study report based on the comprehensive electrification practice of Shenzhen Bus Group to 189 member countries. In addition, electric bus manufacturers such as BYD have also manufactured new energy bus fleets for cities overseas.

The large-scale electrification of public transport vehicles significantly reduces carbon emissions, too. After public transport became fully electric in Shenzhen, data show 345,000 metric tons of standard coal were saved annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.353 million tons. Zero emissions from electric buses will undoubtedly improve air quality and the health of urban residents.

Therefore, from any perspective, the electrification of public vehicles will bring new benefits to all parties. However, it should be noted that past attempts to electrify urban public transport encountered a series of problems, including subsidy adjustments and battery degradation, which need to be tackled with solutions.