A woman rides her electric bike without a helmet in Beijing. Photo by Ethnocentrics.

From TIME.com:

On the Streets of China, Electric Bikes Are Swarming
June 14, 2009
By Austin Ramzy

In China, electric bicycles are leaving cars in the dust. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes. [Compare these staggering figures to more modest numbers from the United States, where more bicycles (2.6 million) were sold than cars and trucks (2.5 million) during the first quarter of 2009.] Thanks to government encouragement and a population well versed in riding two wheels to work, the country has become the world’s leading market for the cheap, green vehicles, helping to offset some of the harmful effects of the country’s automobile boom. Indeed, as engineers around the world scramble to create eco-friendly, plug-in electric cars, China is already ahead of the game.

But is the popularity of the e-bike in the world’s most populous country necessarily a good thing?
Read the rest of this entry »

Chinese car designer Tang Hua unveiled this peculiar electric concept car, named “Detroit Fish,” at the North American International Auto Show in 2008. Photo by GmanViz.

Step aside, Japan. Don’t even try, Detroit. China has plans to corner the electric car market.

From the New York Times:

TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.

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Facing south from the Park Hyatt’s 65th floor China Bar in Beijing. Photo by James Fallows.

James Fallows of the Atlantic recently blogged about “today’s enormous, expanding Chinese cities,” comparing the more intimate architecture of Shanghai to the sprawling concrete slabs in Beijing.

“This is not a ‘which do you like better?’ discussion,” he emphasizes.

Rather the question is why the look and feel of Beijing seem so clearly to represent the direction Chinese cities are heading. To oversimplify what this means: although Shanghai probably contains more people than Beijing, it feels smaller. The roads are narrower, they’re more likely to bend or twist, the city unfolds on a smaller scale of neighborhoods and courtyards and little houses. Beijing is bigger and squarer and broader and more grandly imposing.

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Traffic in Shanghai. Photo by SmokingPermitted.

For the first time ever, there have been more cars sold in China than the United States. (This news comes at the same time as Detroit’s General Motors announced it would cut another 10,000 workers.)

From the Associated Press:

SHANGHAI (AP) — China’s monthly vehicle sales surpassed those in the United States for the first time in January, moving this country closer to becoming the world’s biggest auto market, data released Tuesday showed.
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A gloomy sunset on Beijing’s 5th Ring Road. Photo by Lim CK.

Beijing is prepared to pay up to 1 billion yuan (about $146 million) in subsidies to get citizens to ditch their dirty cars and purchase cleaner ones. (Read Laura Root’s recent post about the pros and cons of these types of “cash for clunkers” programs.)

The goal is to remove more than 350,000 huangbiaoche, or “yellow-label cars” that fail to meet emission standards, by the end of this year. These cars represent only 10 percent of the total number of cars in the city but contribute to 50% of emissions, according to Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau.

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Luo Shaoyang on flickr

Previously, the Beijing skyline took the international spotlight during the Olympics as air pollution threatened athletes and cast a gray haze over the city. Now the Beijing government is designing a policy that would reward driver’s for purchasing cleaner cars. The “cash for clunkers” plan is part of a multi-pronged strategy to reduce over a quarter of a million high polluting cars from Beijing roads in 2009 and support China’s other efforts to reduce air pollution from transport.

This new initiative would address about 10% of the city’s cars which are thought to account for up to 50% of the air pollution for cars. Drivers of the targeted vehicles could be given up to $3600 to trade in their old polluters for cleaner cars in addition to low- rate loans to finance newer, cleaner vehicles.

In 2008, auto sales rose 7.4%, meaning that close to 6.5 million passenger cars came onto Chinese roads last year. “Cash for clunkers” programs have been implemented in many countries to help reduce air pollution through helping private users upgrade to cleaner solutions and they often inspire auto-makers to manufacturer cleaner. However, no matter how clean cars are; only so many will fit onto limited highway space. Thus such programs don’t address the broad spectrum of sustainable transport issues but they do serve to get committed car users into cleaner vehicles.For more information about the mixed reviews of “cash for clunkers” programs please consult:

• The New York Times Article ” A Modest Proposal: Eco- Friendly Stimulus”
• The Brooking’s Institute’s report Refuel Economy with Cash For Old Cars

Beijing Traffic. Photo by Proggie

Listening to NPR last night, I was caught by surprise by a story describing the unexpected popularity of the temporary traffic restrictions Beijing implemented during the Olympics. Conventional wisdom holds that citizens usually view such regulations (which in Beijing’s case prohibit motorists from driving more than every other day) as onerous. But as yesterday’s piece by Mary Kay Magistad of “The World” notes, “many Beijingers like the [resultant] improvements in air quality and traffic, and they’d like the restrictions to become permanent.”

This somewhat surprising response is probably a direct result of the fact that 80% of Beijing residents still do not own a car. This often silent majority is thus forced to suffer the negative aspects of the city’s increasing motorization (such as traffic congestion and air pollution), while missing out on the benefits of private cars.

Despite their popularity, however, these new traffic regulations are expected to be rescinded after the Olympic hype subsides. Now the question is whether or not policymakers will take this broad support into account and make the traffic restrictions permanent. Let’s hope they do, because without these and other interventions, Beijing’s environment, public health, and general quality of life will continue to take a back seat to cars and car infrastructure.

>> Listen to the podcast
>> Read more of WRI’s coverage of the Olympics
>> Listen to a series of stories on urbanization in China done by “The World” this summer

In anticipation of the impending Olympics, Beijing’s subway has undergone a series of major changes, documented in this series of photographs. With a total of five lines totaling 140 kilometers of track, Beijing plans to add three more lines this year to extend coverage to 200 km.

Shanghai - Cycles from Lrock on Vimeo.

Photo by Alexandra Moss.

Once known as the world’s ‘bicycle kingdom,’ China has experienced rapid urbanization leading some to declare the beginning of the end for China’s bikes. While it’s true that from 1995 to 2005, China’s bike fleet declined by 35 percent and private car ownership more than doubled, there is no evidence today that bicycles are a thing of the past on Beijing’s streets.

Increased urbanization and growing diversification of transport has only meant cycling Beijing streets is becoming a greater challenge, particularly in areas where designated bike lanes have been removed. Cycling in Beijing – let alone mastering the art of walking Beijing’s overcrowded streets brimming with buses, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and some 18 million people – is (in a word) terrifying, yet somehow millions of Beijingers seem to cope just fine.

Helmets are nonexistent, and the agile Chinese have mastered the art of multi-tasking while cycling. Not only do people seem to cart their livelihoods on bikes, but I’ve witnessed whole families perched atop a single tandem, ladies cycling one-handed with umbrella in tow to prevent any sun exposure that would risk their pale complexions; I even saw a man with three 15” computer monitors strapped above his back wheel (and they were not flat screen). And you’ll never see a hint of the abashed – anything goes in the Beijing bike lane. Read the rest of this entry »