China to make huge investment in electric vehicles to make China into leader in the field within 3 years

Perhaps they'll look something like this?

Nice. As a resident in a country (Korea) pretty close to China I'm very happy to see this. It's true that even electric vehicles rely on an electric grid mainly powered by coal, but this will still result in an overall reduction of pollution, as well as one very important feature: the reduction of pollution in cities where the majority of the world's population lives. Take this video of traffic in Seoul in the summer for example:



There's nothing worse in the summer than a huge pack of idling vehicles stretching as far as the eye can see. With China making such a huge investment in electric vehicles we may begin to see the beginning of a critical mass, and this will result in better health for us in the cities. And not only that, but the electrical grid can also be changed from coal to other sources (wind, solar, nuclear) whereas cars that burn gasoline run on gasoline, and nothing else.

This is the most important part of the article IMO:

A report by McKinsey & Company last autumn estimated that replacing a gasoline-powered car with a similar-size electric car in China would reduce greenhouse emissions by only 19 percent. It would reduce urban pollution, however, by shifting the source of smog from car exhaust pipes to power plants, which are often located outside cities.

"Only" 19 percent? Let's not forget we're talking about China here. Even before finding alternative sources for generating electricity, a 19 percent reduction is pretty good.

And some more numbers:

China wants to raise its annual production capacity to 500,000 hybrid or all-electric cars and buses by the end of 2011, from 2,100 last year, government officials and Chinese auto executives said. By comparison, CSM Worldwide, a consulting firm that does forecasts for automakers, predicts that Japan and South Korea together will be producing 1.1 million hybrid or all-electric light vehicles by then and North America will be making 267,000.

2011 will also be a good year for electric vehicles because that's when the Tesla Model S sedan will go on sale. No more looking like a wuss for driving an electric vehicle.

Electric cars have several practical advantages in China. Intercity driving is rare. Commutes are fairly short and frequently at low speeds because of traffic jams. So the limitations of all-electric cars — the latest models in China have a top speed of 60 miles an hour and a range of 120 miles between charges — are less of a problem.

I expect that the Model S will do very well in Korea when they decide to sell it here (apparently 2012) because Koreans by and large still love the idea of big cars. The Equus is one example of a really popular vehicle here, and it sells for about the same price.