China will reinstate subsidies for electric car buyers as early as next month, Wang Chuanfu, the CEO of automaker BYD, told Reuters.

China will reinstate subsidies for electric car buyers as early as next month, Wang Chuanfu, the CEO of automaker BYD, told Reuters. “The previous subsidy was for 2010 to 2012, so it terminated on Dec. 31, 2012. Now, the government is setting up standards and they should be announced in April or May,” Wang told reporters in Hong Kong.

Wang offered no further details. The previous subsidy amounted to 60,000 yuan ($9,700) for the purchase of an EV, and 50,000 yuan for a PHEV. Some city governments offer additional subsidies. Reuters also reported that China will implement a fuel-economy mandate for new vehicles, expected to be about 34 mpg by 2014 and 47 mpg by 2020. It’s all part of a plan that the Chinese government announced last July, to put 500,000 “new energy” (plug-in) vehicles on the road by 2015, and as many as 5 million by 2020.

BYD’s Wang also said that the Denza EV, a joint project between BYD and Daimler, will go on sale by June 2014, about six months later than previously announced.

Image: Renato Ganoza
Sources: Reuters,  Autoblog Green