Fuel Vehicles Restricted, New Energy Vehicles Unrestricted! Fuel Vehicle Owners Complain of Unfairness, Traffic Management Responds

On September 19th, Fast Technology reported that in order to encourage consumers to purchase new energy vehicles, relevant national departments had issued documents prohibiting local governments from imposing restrictions on the purchase and use of new energy vehicles. However, in recent years, as the number of new energy vehicles has increased, many owners of gasoline vehicles have begun to feel that this is unfair.

According to reports, a car owner in Chengdu posted on a forum stating that their gasoline car has to stay at home due to license plate restrictions, but their neighbor with a new energy vehicle can drive on the road every day, which is unfair.

After this issue sparked heated discussion among netizens, the Chengdu traffic management department responded by stating: According to the requirements from the State Council executive meeting that "local authorities must not impose restrictions on the use or purchase of new energy vehicles, and any existing restrictions must be lifted," as well as the relevant provisions from the Chengdu Municipal People's Government General Office's "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Development of the New Energy Vehicle Industry in Chengdu," new energy vehicles are currently not subject to the traffic restriction measures based on license plate numbers that have been implemented in our city.

In response to your suggestion to include new energy vehicles (or hybrid new energy vehicles) in the traffic restriction category, the Municipal Public Security Bureau Traffic Management Bureau will, in conjunction with the changing traffic situation, timely initiate relevant research work in collaboration with the Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau, Municipal Economic and Information Bureau, Municipal Transportation Bureau, and other relevant municipal departments.

It is understood that as early as June 6, 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Upgrade and Renewal of Key Consumer Goods and Smooth Resource Circulation," which stated that local governments are not allowed to impose restrictions on the purchase and use of new energy vehicles, and any existing restrictions should be lifted.

Encourage localities to support car-free families in purchasing their first household electric vehicle, and encourage qualified areas to offer discounts on parking fees and other benefits for electric vehicles.

In addition, residents purchasing new energy vehicles are exempt from vehicle purchase tax. Encouraged by multiple policies, the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles in China have surpassed 40 million units, with production and sales volume ranking first in the world for 10 consecutive years.

According to data from the Ministry of Public Security at the beginning of this year, by the end of 2024, the number of new energy vehicles in the country reached 31.4 million, accounting for 8.90% of the total number of vehicles. Among them, the number of pure electric vehicles was 22.09 million, accounting for 70.34% of new energy vehicles. In the first half of this year, the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 44.3%, setting a historical high for the same period.

However, it can be expected that as the ownership of new energy vehicles continues to increase, the various incentives and preferential policies for purchasing new energy vehicles are expected to gradually decline, and will be managed in a regular manner just like fuel vehicles.