The electric vehicle landscape in China: Between institutional and market forces

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The electric vehicle market in China, both state-pushed and consumer-pulled, faces many challenges despite strong governmental support. On the one hand, both academic literature and official reports lack model-based sales data of passenger plug-in electric vehicles, a prerequisite to understanding dynamics between regulation, industry and market. On the other hand, a vast but unofficial micro electric vehicle market is fast growing in China's low tier cities. This research intends to provide the literature with a comprehensive yearly sales dataset by models of the Chinese passenger plug-in electric vehicle market from 2009 to the first quarter of 2015. We build a typology of the market by analysing product characteristics, usages and deployment territories and synthesise results in a unique landscape. Finally, our deeper understanding of electric mobility levers in China allows us to formulate industry and regulatory implications. Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.