When auto companies showed up in Las Vegas this month for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a traditional parade ground for what's new in information technology, they certainly didn't seem like misfits.
In 2014, output of pure electric passenger cars rose 300 percent from a year earlier to 37,800, with plug-in hybrid passenger cars rising to 16,700 units. Output of pure electric and plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles went up by 400 percent and 200 percent, respectively. In December 2014, Chinese carmakers produced 27,200 new energy vehicles, four times as many as they did in December 2013.
The Internet company officially announced its electric car plan in December. Leshi's Le Telematics Co CEO He Yi said the forthcoming product would be a "smart super electric vehicle" offered around the world as a global product. He said the Silicon Valley based automotive research and development team had been working on the car for nearly a year. He said a joint investment with domestic carmaker Beijing Automotive Group Co was made into American company Atieva Inc in the summer of 2014.
Electric vehicles are gaining popularity in China amid its "green" drive, but buyers are hesitant as they worry about a lack of charging stations.
