【Sea and River Night Talk】Is it necessary to establish a timeline for banning the sale of fuel-powered vehicles? What do you think?

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Is it necessary to introduce a timeline for banning the sale of fuel-powered vehicles? Back then, cars didn’t overcome horse-drawn carriages by banning them from the roads. At the recently held biweekly consultation meeting of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said that China’s new energy vehicle industry is currently at a critical stage of development. To ensure stable growth for this industry, he suggested that a timeline for banning the sale of fuel-powered vehicles be established as soon as possible. The proposal immediately sparked intense debate. Proponents argued that banning the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles is an inevitable trend, and our country should have set a timeline for such a ban long ago, just like other countries ； Opponents argue that it’s premature to ban the sale of new energy vehicles; it’s fine to speak on behalf of the industry, but such self-interest is excessive. Dong Yang, executive vice president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, wrote in an article titled “Internal Combustion Engines Are Not Obsolete” that in the early days of automobile invention, both electric motors and internal combustion engines served as sources of power. At first, the number of electric motors was far greater than that of internal combustion engines. Later on, internal combustion engine technology developed more rapidly, offering better performance, lower costs, and greater convenience of use. Thus, the internal combustion engine replaced the electric motor as the main power system for cars. In recent years, power batteries have developed rapidly, resulting in a significant improvement in the performance of electric vehicles and a notable reduction in their costs. Furthermore, electric vehicles enjoy support from various countries due to their ability to utilize multiple types of energy sources and their absence of emissions of harmful gases and greenhouse gases during operation; these factors combined have led to electric vehicles entering a phase of widespread use once again. For energy conservation and emission reduction, electric vehicles are not the only option. Andy Palmer, CEO of the British car manufacturer Aston Martin, once said that “decision-makers should not play the role of engineers; the best approach is to set emission standards and then let engineers figure out what technologies can meet those standards.” He believes that by improving existing technologies, the fuel efficiency of gasoline cars can almost double, which means a reduction of nearly 50% in carbon emissions. Some would say that the development of electric vehicles is not only aimed at environmental protection but also at advancing technology. China lacks core technologies in the field of traditional automobiles, and the approach of using the market to acquire such technologies has not been successful. New energy vehicles represent a new field, and it should be used to break through foreign technological barriers and achieve rapid progress. Even so, support is understandable, but coercion should still not be used. Smartphones have replaced non-smartphones thanks to their superior performance, rather than **support and planning. It should still be the consumers who decide which car to use. Forcing it can lead to significant misallocation of resources, with overtaking on curves resulting in accidents. No industry or company operates without challenges; when faced with obstacles, it is best for companies to first address the issues within their industry. Once fraudulent subsidies are eliminated, energy density increases and the driving experience improves, which in turn leads to a larger market. As soon as there’s a problem, they want policy changes* – when will things change? Back then, cars didn’t overcome horse-drawn carriages by banning them from the roads.