China’s regulations on the development of new energy vehicles are expected to be announced in March next year, Wang Shulin, an auto expert from the nations’s top economic planner, told China Securities Journal yesterday.

Reportedly the technology regulations on new energy vehicles will be published recently. And the regulations on the development of new energy vehicles have been submitted to the State Council for approval and are expected to be officially in effect in March 2010, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)’s auto industry expert said.

The current annual production capacities of China’s Nickel-hydrogen batteries and lithium-ion battery, the key parts of electric vehicles, will exceed 0.14 billion and 0.9 billion WH by the year end, and are expected to be boosted to 0.36 billion and 4 billion WH by 2010. If each electric vehicle is to be equipped with a battery with a 30,000 WH capacity, the annual output will meet the demand of 150,000 vehicles by 2010.

Developing new energy vehicles will be the best option for China to usher in a new era of post-financial crisis, economic growth and new industry. China has its own unique advantages in developing new energy vehicles as the policy, the low cost and the abundant storage of lithium resources may be the three powerful forces for China to promote electric vehicles development, Wang added.

According to the expectation from the NDRC, the amount of pure electric vehicles in China will reach 100,000 units in 2012 and climb to 4,000,000 units in 2020.