Ministry of Science and Technology: The 13th Five-Year Plan Pushes New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Forward

Focusing on “ensuring safety, enabling innovations”, China EV100 Summer Forum 2016 was held on August 21. Yin Hejun, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, disclosed that during the 13th Five-Year Plan, Ministry of Science and Technology will vigorously promote new energy vehicles’ technological innovation, aiming at building a sound system of electric vehicle power system technology system and industry chain by 2020, to offer a stronger scientific and technological support to China's new energy vehicles industry development.

As the best platform for low-carbon technology, informatization and intelligentization, new energy vehicles are becoming an important carrier for new-round technological revolution. Yin Hejun said at present China's new energy vehicle technology has achieved great progress in R&D and industrialization, with significantly improved technological innovation and a leading position in industrialization progress. Specifically, there realized achievements in a significant progress made in extended-range technology, a large breakthrough in the key components technology; also, initially built public technology platforms, and establishment of an improved new energy vehicle standards system, which basically meet the needs by technology research & development and industrialization.

From January to June in 2016, the country’s new energy vehicle output and sales quantity were all above 170,000, a substantial growth compared with the same period in 2015. However, there still exist insufficient charging infrastructures, increased vehicle safety and other issues during the new energy vehicle demonstration, promotion and application process, etc.

“It is urgent to solve safety problems. Especially in the past year, the electric vehicle accidents were rising, due to a small number of low-level new energy cars entering the market, lack of self-safety protection, and inadequate charging and operating supervision and protection", said Yin Hejun. New energy vehicle safety is a systematic project, requiring mutual efforts from the vehicles, power battery and infrastructure, strengthened improvement in the whole system engineering technology, and establishment of effective operational safety and charging supervision and control guarantee system.

Based on the introduction by Yin Hejun, from the second half of 2015, Ministry of Science and Technology, working with Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, got started to implement the pilot project of new energy vehicles, a country’s major R&D program in the 13th Five-Year Plan. From four levels of basic scientific issues, common core and key, power system technology, integrated development and demonstration, the project put emphasis on making R&D arrangements in six directions: power battery and battery management system, motor drive and power battery assembly, intelligentization of electric vehicle, fuel battery power system, plug-in extended-range hybrid power system, and pure electric power system, to perfect China’s new energy vehicles’ R & D system, and upgrade new energy vehicle technology platform.