- Beijing has banned the acceptance of new gasoline vehicles on ride-hailing platforms since July 20, with only EVs accepted.
- This comes after several cities, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou, stopped accepting fuel cars into the ride-hailing market.
China's support for the electric vehicle (EV) market continues, with the preference for such models in the ride-hailing market.
The country's capital city, Beijing, has banned the acceptance of new gasoline vehicles on ride-hailing platforms since July 20, according to a report today by China Automative News, an affiliate of the People's Daily.
Previously, Beijing had mandated that gasoline cars with emission standards below National 6 exit the ride-hailing market, and the latest policy bans new fuel cars from entering that market, the report notes.
Some gasoline car drivers in Beijing received alerts about their vehicles not meeting the requirements and needing to be replaced with green-plate vehicles when they registered on ride-hailing platforms, according to the report.
Shenzhen phased out fuel cars from ride-hailing platforms as early as 2020, and several cities including Guangzhou and Dongguan no longer accept fuel cars on those platforms, the report said.
Xi'an has started to fully retire fuel cars from ride-hailing platforms in June, significantly ahead of the original 2028 schedule, according to the report.
As more and more cities ban gasoline vehicles from ride-hailing platforms, the industry is set to accelerate into the era of electrification, the report by China Automative News notes.
As China's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry grows at a rapid pace, such vehicles now contribute half of passenger car sales.
Retail sales of China's passenger NEVs in June were 1.111 million units, up 29.7 percent year-on-year and up 8.2 percent from May, according to data released on July 8 by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
China's NEV penetration at retail stood at 53.3 percent in June, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier and up 0.4 percent from May.
Some carmakers are ramping up their focus on the ride-hailing market, such as Changan Automobile's launch of the battery swap-enabled Oshan 520 electric sedan with CATL (SHE: 300750).
The Oshan 520 is based on CATL's Choco-SEB (swapping electric block) battery swap solution, which saves owners more than 2 hours of charging time per day, Changan said last November.
