Author / Yi-Jun Shih, Assistant Researcher, RSPRC.
Hu, Yu-Hsuan, Assistant Researcher, RSPRC.
Yi-Meng Chao, Assistant Researcher, RSPRC.
Hui-Tzu Huang, Postdoctoral Fellow, RSPRC.
On the "Hon Hai Tech Day" on October 18, 2021, Hon Hai Technology Group officially unveiled three electric vehicles at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. This debut has become a milestone for the Hon Hai Technology Group, symbolizing that Hon Hai's corporate map is no longer limited to part manufacturing and OEM but will launch its own electric vehicles under the "Foxtron" brand with affordable prices for everyone. This event has attracted widespread attention from the society. With the rising awareness of environmental and climate crisis, electric vehicles are gaining more and more attention in various countries. Although the current price of electric vehicles is still higher than that of fossil fuel vehicles, many countries have set phased policy goals for electric vehicles and introduced policies to support the development of vehicle-related industries. What is the current status of electric vehicles around the world? What are the ambitions and strategies of various countries to promote the popularization of electric vehicles? Compared with other countries, has Taiwan kept up with the international pace? This article will answer such questions by examining the situation in Europe, North America, East Asia and other regions, and exploring whether Taiwan can learn ideas and concepts from the policies of these countries.
Figure 1 Target Years for Banning the Sale of Fuel Vehicles
Source: Compiled by RSPRC
Europe:
- Norway
By the end of 2020, Norway had over 330,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) registered, accounting for a market share of 54%. The government's current reward policy for zero-emission vehicles would be maintained until the end of 2021, after which the reward policy will be adjusted in a rolling manner as the market develops. Norway's tax system for vehicles is based on the "polluter pays" principle, levying high taxes on high-emission vehicles, low taxes on low-emission vehicles, and tax money collected from polluting vehicles is used to reward zero-emission vehicles. The Norwegian government has set a target that all new vehicles sold by 2025 must be either electric or hydrogen vehicles with zero emissions. It is through the green tax system, not through mandatory bans that this target will be achieved.
In addition, in terms of charging infrastructure, the Norwegian government launched a program in 2017 to fund the establishment of at least two fast charging stations every 50 kilometers on all major roads. Today, fast charging stations have been successfully built along all the major roads in Norway. In addition, Norway has had a good charging network. As of January 2021, Norway have 330,000 electric vehicles and 3,200 cars can be fast charged at the same time. According to the survey, most of the Norwegian consumers are willing to pay for fast charging on the road with three times the electricity price at home.
- European Union
The number of electric vehicle registrations in the EU showed a significant and rapid growth between 2019 and 2020, rising from 3.2% of market share in 2019 (2.1% for battery electric vehicles and 1.1% for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) to 10.5% in 2020 (5.3% for battery electric vehicles and 5.2% for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles). Currently, 1.4 million electric vehicles have been registered in Europe. Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) has announced a large number of legislative proposals to encourage automakers to produce low-emission vehicles in order to achieve the goal of having at least 30 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030, and to strengthen the development of charging infrastructure, EC has planned to install 1 million electric and hydrogen-based charging stations by 2025, which will make Europe the global leader. Also, the types of electric vehicles available in Europe have been increasing significantly. In addition to Tesla, there were 214 types of electric vehicles available in Europe in 2021.
Many sectors will be affected by the electric vehicle policy. For example, the real estate developers and construction companies are closely related to the deployment of electric vehicle infrastructure. The construction companies required to prepare all the basic conditions for electric vehicle charging equipment. From 2019 to 2020, the number of charging stations in the EU increased by 35%. However, the development of electric vehicle charging equipment in European countries is extremely uneven. According to the statistics by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) in 2021, most of the EU member states were still in a serious lack of electric charging stations along the roads. There were 10 countries without a charging station every 100 kilometers. For example, citizens in Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Romania still need to drive 200 kilometers or more to reach a charging station, resulting in a great reduction of willingness to buy electric vehicles. With an average of 47.5 charging piles per 100 kilometers, the Netherlands currently has the most charging piles among EU countries. Currently, the biggest challenge for EU countries is the need to rapidly deploy infrastructure such as charging piles in a very short period of time.
North America:
- United States
The number of electric vehicle registrations in the United States is showing a gradual growth trend. Electric vehicle registrations accounted for 1.8% of the U.S. auto market in 2020, which was a new record and indicated that there has been an increasing consumer interest in electric vehicles. In 2020, the number of BEV registrations in the United States exceeded 1 million units, among which California was the largest electric vehicle market in the United States, accounting for 42% of the total number of BEV registrations in the United States. Tesla alone captured nearly two-thirds of the U.S. electric vehicle market among most of the automakers.
President Biden announced in August 2021 that electric vehicles would account for 50 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030, and the timetable for the popularization of electric vehicles in the U.S. depends critically on two pieces of legislation currently in Congress: a US$3.5 trillion budget plan and the US$1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Among them, the bipartisan infrastructure bill includes US$7.5 billion for the buildup of charging stations for electric vehicles across the country, while the US$3.5 trillion budget plan includes a provision that would give purchases of electric vehicles a tax credit of up to US$12,500 including the current basic deduction of US$4,000 and a credit of up to US$3,500 based on battery capacity. An additional US$4,500 tax credit will be available for purchases of electric vehicles assembled by the United Auto Workers Union, and US$500 will be provided for vehicles that meet U.S. local content requirements, including batteries made in the U.S. However, this bill has also caused a backlash from non-unionized automakers, including Tesla, Toyota, and Honda. In response to the government policies, major U.S. automakers have also been actively preparing for the inevitable future of electric vehicles. For example, General Motors pledged in 2021 that it would achieve 100% electric vehicles by 2035, while Ford also announced in May 2021 that electric vehicles would account for 40% of its total vehicle sales by 2030.
At present, many states in the United States have been promoting acts to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles, including the State of Washington has regulated to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles in 2030. Thirteen states, including California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, have declared a ban on the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2035. Among them, California not only took the lead in setting the goal to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2035, but also passed an act on September 2, 2021, to regulate that at least 1 million vehicles with zero emissions or close to zero emissions should be put into use before January 1, 2023. The act also stipulates that all autonomous unmanned vehicles must meet the design of zero emissions by 2030, making California the first state in the United States to set a deadline for electrifying autonomous vehicles.
- Canada
Electric vehicle sales in Canada currently account for about 3% of total vehicle sales. The incentive policies for electric vehicles, mainly come from the Government of Canada. From the perspective of consumers, the Government of Canada provides federal rebate up to US$5,000. In addition, the two provincial governments of Quebec and British Columbia offer additional subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles. Whether in the United States or Canada, electric vehicles are currently more expensive than fossil fuel vehicles. In terms of production and sales, Ford Motor Company of the United States has committed to investing more than US$1 billion in electric vehicle-related equipment in Canada. To promote electric vehicle production in Canada, the federal and provincial governments have added a total of US$450 million in subsidies. According to statistics from Natural Resource Canada, in 2020, there were 5,316 public charging stations in Canada (12,558 charging piles, of which more than 2,200 are fast charging piles that can fully charge a car within 30 minutes). To accelerate the transition to clean energy vehicles, the Government of Canada has purchased 5,500 zero-carbon emission buses, equivalent to 5.5% of the number of buses in Canada.
East Asia:
- Japan
In the revised version of its Green Growth Strategy announced in June 2021, Japan decided that new vehicle sales should be 100% electric vehicles by 2035. Among them, electric vehicles include BEV, fuel cell vehicles (FCV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). To promote the popularization of electric vehicles, Japan's central government and local governments offer relevant subsidies, financing and preferential tax systems for the purchase of electric vehicles (BEV, PHEV, FCV), charging equipment, and hydrogen refueling stations. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's (METI) subsidy budget for electric vehicles in 2022 was raised to ¥33.49 billion from ¥15.5 billion in 2021.
At the end of 2019, the total number of domestic vehicle registrations in Japan was about 82.34 million units, including about 10.94 million electric vehicles, accounting for 13.3%. Among them, the number of registered electric vehicles includes about 124,000 BEVs, 136,000 PHEVs, 3,695 FCVs, and 10.68 million HEVs.
At the end of 2019, the cumulative number of installed public charging stations reached 30,000, including 7,858 fast charging stations and 22,536 ordinary charging stations. The government goal is to reach 150,000 public charging stations by 2030, of which 30,000 will be for fast charging. As of February 2021, there have been 137 hydrogen refueling stations, with another 25 under construction. In order to promote the popularization of fuel cell vehicles, buses and trucks, the government aims to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations by 2030.
Large electric commercial vehicles such as trucks and tourism buses of more than 8 tons are currently in the stage of research and development and demonstration, and the goal is to introduce 5,000 units by 2030. Fuel cell vehicles will be developed mainly under the consideration for the cruising endurance of long-distance transportation such as large trucks. At present, Toyota Motors and Hino Motors have been jointly developing a 25-ton fuel cell large truck with a cruising range of 600km and are expected to begin demonstrations with logistic companies in spring 2022. Honda Motors and Isuzu Motors have also signed a joint research and development contract for fuel cell trucks.
- Korea
The sales of electric vehicles in South Korea have shown a trend of gradual growth in recent years. As of the end of 2020, the sales of electric vehicles (including HEV, BEV, and hydrogen vehicles) were 225,000 units, mainly due to the increase in the sales of hybrid electric vehicles and electric trucks, enabling the market share of electric vehicles exceeded 10% of the country’s automobile market for the first time in 2020. In addition, as of the end of 2020, electric vehicle registrations stood at 820,000 units, accounting for 3.4% of the total number of vehicles. By electric-vehicle type, there were 134,692 BEVs, 67,461 HEVs and 10,906 hydrogen vehicles.
To reach the goal of 1.33 million electric vehicles and 200,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2025, South Korea would focus on the popularization of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure construction next year. In 2021, it was expected that South Korea would invest ₩1 trillion and ₩112 billion to popularize electric vehicles and construct the charging infrastructure, while ₩440.8 billion would be invested in the popularization of hydrogen vehicles. In addition, the South Korean government has extended the subsidy period to 2025, greatly expanded the number of subsidies, and actively promoted the extension of tax incentives and the improvement of the fee-charging system for electric charging. Moreover, to strengthen the competitiveness of its domestic electric vehicles, the South Korean government will actively support the technical R&D such as electric vehicle performance and component improvement, and to promote the institutional improvements such as expanding the scope and number of charging obligations for new cohousing, and the standard of fines limited to the obstruction behavior of fast charging has been expanded to include those behaviors against slow charging, etc. At the same time, South Korea has also planned to strengthen the system of popularization target for low-pollution vehicles so as to ensure the supply will meet the demand of electric vehicles.
At present, the South Korean Congress has also been pushing for law amendments to start to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles since 2030. Even though no final conclusion has been reached, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has taken the lead in announcing that driving gasoline or diesel vehicles in the green traffic areas of the four main gates of Seoul will be banned by 2035.
- China
China has included the development of electric vehicles as one of its development focuses in its "14th Five Year Plan" (2021-2025). Currently, both the central and local governments have been actively promoting electric vehicle-related policies to stimulate demand for electric vehicles. Especially compared to other leading electric-vehicle markets (such as Europe), China has a high share for its electrification of public transport vehicles. Between 2015 and 2018, China ranked the highest in the world in the number of newly registered electric buses per year. It was until 2019 that the number-one ranking was overtaken by Europe, which had been catching up fast.
According to the "New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" promulgated by the State Council of China in November 2020, China aims to push up the sale of electric vehicles to 20% of the total new car sales by 2025 and its core technology for electric vehicles to reach the international advanced level by 2035. The latest data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in early April 2021 showed that in the first quarter of 2021, a total of 533,000 electric vehicles were produced in China and 515,000 were sold, an increase of 2.2 times and 1.8 times respectively compared to the same period last year. In 2020, the total sales of electric vehicles in China reached 1.3 million, accounting for 40% of global sales, and the cumulative number of electric vehicles registered at the end of that year was about 4.2 million. Currently, nearly 70% of the world's electric vehicle batteries are produced in China.
- Taiwan
The number of electric vehicle registrations in Taiwan has been increasing year by year. In 2016, the number of electric vehicle registrations was only 737 units, but the new registration number rose rapidly to 13,364 units in 2020, a growth of about 18 times in five years. However, the total number of registered vehicles in Taiwan in 2020 exceeded 8 million, only 0.16% of which came from electric vehicles. Among them, the number of registrations of BEV was 11,876 units in 2020, accounting for only 0.14% of the total number of vehicles. By type, there were 11,876 units for electric (BEV), 1,335 units for electric/gasoline, 3 units for electric/diesel fuel and 150 units for range extender electric. According to the number of new vehicle license plates, the number of new vehicle license plates for electric vehicles (Electric, Electric/Gasoline, Electric/Diesel, Range Extender Electric) was 7,201 units in 2020, accounting for only 1.57% of the total number of new vehicle license plates, showing that the domestic electric vehicle market still has a lot of room for growth.
In 2018, Taiwan announced the timetable for banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 and determined the policy direction of transition from fossil fuel to electricity. However, Executive Yuan made a sharp turn in policy in 2019 on the grounds of , suspending the ban on the sale of gasoline cars and motorcycles. Without a long-term goal, the transition policy related to Taiwan's auto industry has gradually declined. Despite this, there are still companies in Taiwan working towards the development of electric vehicles, and the progress even exceeds the government's plan. For example, in October 2021, Taiwan's Hon Hai and Yulon formed an alliance and announced the establishment of the Mobility in Harmony (MIH) Alliance. Led by two leading companies in Taiwan's electronics industry and automotive industry, MIH not only drives the transition upgrade of Taiwan's automotive industrial chain, but also expands the layout of the electric vehicle industry. On October 18, 2021, Foxtron also launched its own-brand electric vehicles.
Although the Taiwan government is currently suspending the implementation of the policy target of banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles, the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs is expected to implement the new "Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards" (CAFE Standards) starting from January 1, 2022. At that time, the overall fuel consumption control targets for new passenger cars and commercial vehicles will be raised to 20 and 13.7 km/liter, compared with the current control targets of 14.5 and 11.4 km/liter, an increase of 38% and 20%, respectively. In addition, the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs is promoting the "Counseling and Promoting Program for Smart Electric Vehicle Industry" in order to strengthen the electric vehicle industrial chain. It is expected that from 2019 to 2022, NT$101 million from the government plus NT$23.985 million funded by the industry would be invested in the four major projects, namely "Supporting the Industrial Policy Research", "Counseling for Product Competitiveness", "Constructing Industry Value Chain" and "Promoting and Linking Internationally".
On the other hand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs would promote the "public charging pile construction" plan in 2021. The first-stage goal is to build a total of 7,800 charging piles (including 7,200 slow and 600 fast charging piles) in Taiwan in 2025, so as to provide 40% to 60% of the overall charging demand for the year. In addition to increasing the number of public charging piles, the Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior revised the "Building Technical Regulations" in 2019, stipulating that all the new buildings should reserve the space for electric vehicle charging related equipment in their parking lots. In 2021, the Ministry of the Interior proposed to amend the Condominium Administration Act (Building Administration Division), requiring old communities to install charging piles under the premise that the safety can be certified and confirmed by the electricity authority. In principle, the management committee of old communities shall not refuse. The drafted bill has been under deliberation by the Legislative Yuan, hoping to pass three readings in this session. In addition, Taipower Company is required to strengthen the transmission and distribution facilities for the feeders of the power grid, while the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection also needs to incorporate the CCS1+N principle of the public charging pile into the safety specifications.
Analysis of electric vehicle strategies in various countries
In terms of the overall national goal, Norway has the most ambition for electric vehicle program, with the goal of completely banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles within five years by 2025. Also by 2025, China has planned a target to have its electric vehicle sales reach 20% of all new car sales, and South Korea has planned a popularization target of 1.33 million electric vehicles and 200,000 hydrogen vehicles. In the regions discussed in this article, the United States has not yet reached a consensus at the national level, but some of its state governments have already made relevant plans for schedules to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles. It seems that all the regions mentioned above, except for Taiwan, would completely ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles before 2035. This schedule would be 10 years later than that of Norway, and Taiwan, which is expected to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles in 2040, would be 15 years later than Norway.
In terms of the current EV penetration rate, electric vehicles have captured over 50% of the new car market in Norway, due to its ambitious policy. In contrast, other regions are still in their infancy. Among them, the number of EVs registered in Taiwan is less than 0.2% of the total vehicle registrations, which is the slowest. In terms of the growth trend of electric vehicles in 2020, the total EV sales reached 1.3 million units in China with the highest number, and 330,000 units in Norway with the highest market share. Meanwhile, the United States, Japan, and South Korea have each reached a six-figure sale of EVs, far leading the number of 7,201 units sold in Taiwan.
The article reviews the EV promotion policies in various countries and summarizes several key points. From an economic point of view, to increase the purchase willingness of electric vehicles, firstly, it is necessary to improve the price competitiveness. In the countries and regions discussed in the article, on the supply side, the EV manufacturers are subsidized, while on the consumer side, consumers are mainly offered with purchase subsidies, relevant tax incentives, and other related measures. Norway, which has the highest EV penetration rate, taxes cars in proportion to their carbon emissions and uses taxes on polluting vehicles as incentives for zero-emission vehicles.
In addition, governments have also invested in the infrastructure required for electric vehicles, including a large number of charging stations, charging piles, smart grids, and so on. The society also relies on various sectors to respond to the changes brought by the increased number of electric vehicles. To this end, the European Union has made relevant regulations, requiring real estate and construction companies to prepare infrastructure for EV charging. However, the discussion in the article shows that even Europe, where EV-related policies are the most actively promoted, has the problem of uneven regional development of infrastructure. As a result, there is still considerable room for governments to promote the popularization of electric vehicles.
Table 1. Comparison of electric vehicle strategies in various countries
|
Region/Country |
Policy goals |
Target schedule for banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles |
EV registrations and market share |
Major policies |
|
EU |
One million charging piles set up by 2025 and 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2035 |
2035 |
There are currently 1.4 million electric vehicles registered in Europe. |
The key policies are incentive measures, deploying charging equipment, and requiring real estate and construction companies to prepare infrastructure for EV charging. |
|
Norway |
All new vehicles sold should be zero emissions by 2025 |
2025 |
In 2020, the number of EVs in Norway exceeded 330,000 units, accounting for 54% of the market. |
Taxes are levied proportional to car emissions and are used as incentives for zero-carbon emissions. |
|
U.S. |
Electric vehicles account for 50% of new car sales by 2030 |
The federal government has not yet proposed only some state governments have proposed |
In 2020, the EV registrations in the U.S. exceeded 1 million units, accounting for 1.8% of the U.S. vehicle market. |
The major policies are constructing charging stations across the country and providing a tax credit of up to US$12,500 for purchasing an electric vehicle. |
|
Canada |
zero-emission vehicles by 2035 |
2035 |
In 2020, the number of EVs registered in Canada reached about 51,000 units, accounting for 3% of total vehicle sales. |
On the consumer side, a federal rebate of up to US$5,000 is offered; on the production and sales side, Ford has committed to investing over US$1 billion in EV-related equipment in Canada, and the federal and provincial governments have provided a total of US$ 450 million in subsidies. |
|
China |
EV sales reach 20% of all new car sales by 2025, and core technologies of EVs reach aninternational advanced level by 2035. |
2035 |
In 2020, the total EV sales reached 1.3 million units in China, and the cumulative number of registered EVs by the end of the year was about 4.2 million units. |
The "Development Plan for New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035)" promulgated by the State Council of China focuses on technological breakthroughs in batteries and automobiles, IoT technologies, stabilizing and expanding EV consumption, and increasing EV infrastructure. |
|
Japan |
150,000 public charging stations, including 30,000 fast charging stations, and 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations by 2030 |
2035 (not banning HEV and PHEV) |
The EV registrations in Japan was about 10.94 million units by the end of 2019, accounting for 13.3% of the total registered vehicles. |
The Japanese central and local governments provide relevant subsidies, financing, and tax preference for the purchase of electric vehicles (BEV, PHEV, FCV), charging equipment, and hydrogen refueling stations. The METI raised the EV subsidy budget from ¥15.5 billion in 2021 to ¥33.49 billion in 2022. |
|
South Korea |
1.33 million electric vehicles and 200,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2025 |
To be executed in 2030 (in the process of law amendment) |
In 2020, the EV sales in South Korea were 225,000 units, and the number of registrations was 820,000 units, accounting for 3.4% of the total registered vehicles. |
In 2021, it is estimated that ₩1.112 trillion to be invested in EV popularization and charging infrastructure construction, and ₩440.8 billion in the popularization of hydrogen vehicles. The EV subsidy period is extended to 2025, and personal consumption tax and education tax can be fully or partially exempted. |
|
Taiwan |
Ban on the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 |
2040 |
In 2020, the EV registered in Taiwan was 13,364 units, accounting for only 0.16% of the total car registrations. |
Promoting the "Smart Electric Vehicle Industry Counseling and Promotion Project" is estimated to invest NT$101 million from 2019 to 2022 with an additional NT$23.985 million in self-financing to strengthen the EV industry chain. |
Source: Compiled by RSPRC.
Policy Recommendations to the Taiwanese Government
To sum up, in promoting the popularization of electric vehicles, there is a gap in governance between Taiwan and the international benchmarking countries and neighboring Asian countries. Therefore, the article proposed the following policy recommendations for the EV industry development in Taiwan:
Recommendation 1: The electric vehicle market should be stimulated in both directions, that is, to guide the development of the EV industry chain and to encourage consumers to choose electric vehicles.
Although the government has adopted some indirect approaches in recent years, such as the measure to control the fuel consumption of new cars to encourage consumers to choose more environmentally friendly cars and the promotion project to counsel the development of the smart electric vehicle industry. However, in comparison with the situations in other countries, it can be found that Taiwan’s development status is generally lagging behind, and the current popularity of electric vehicles is obviously low; on the policy aspect, Taiwan’s current goals and plans for the development of electric vehicles are relatively unambitious. Not only is the target year for banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles five years later than most countries, but the government has not provided direct subsidies to encourage consumers to choose electric vehicles, apart from some indirect tax incentives. At present, the direct subsidy program still sticks to purchasing electric motorcycles.
Recommendation 2: The electric vehicle policy lacks overall panning and should be coordinated and integrated across ministries.
The EV popularization can not only achieve energy conservation, carbon reduction, and air pollution mitigation but can also promote the upgrading of the domestic automobile industry. Nevertheless, the government has regarded the promotion of electric vehicles as an industrial policy, which is thus assigned to the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, ignoring the overall transportation policy planning and the importance of increasing its market share. In addition, accomplishing the policy goal of EV popularization involves a wide range of laws and regulations. At the current stage, the authority and responsibility for promoting electric vehicle policy in Taiwan are scattered among different ministries. For example, the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for researching and proposing supporting measures for EV-related industries. The Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for setting new fuel consumption control standards for new vehicles. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for implementing tax exemptions to increase incentives for purchasing electric vehicles. The Environmental Protection Administration is responsible for setting standards for environmentally friendly vehicles. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is responsible for promoting the EV traffic signal to be included in traffic regulations and issuing electric vehicle licenses. Scattered authority and responsibility have made Taiwan slower than other countries in promoting the popularization of electric vehicles. Thus, it is urgent to coordinate horizontally, integrate resources across ministries, and jointly formulate forward-looking policy plans to provide the EV promotion with a sound and friendly environment, regulations, and industrial development.
Recommendation 3: The electric vehicle infrastructure is not yet fully in place, and a sound and friendly environment for using electric vehicles should be created.
On the other hand, there is still considerable room for improvement in the EV charging infrastructure. Firstly, in terms of charging piles, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as of March 2021, there were 2,944 public charging points in Taiwan, including2,735 AC slow chargers and 209 DC fast chargers. More than half of the stations are concentrated in the three major cities - Taipei City, Taichung City, and New Taipei City, and each of these three cities has more than 170 charging stations, while all the other counties and cities have less than 80 charging stations.
Moreover, it is usually not easy for apartment residents or renters to install charging equipment in their own parking spaces. At present, the number of charging piles in the outdoor and public parking lots in Taiwan also needs to be greatly increased. Faced with these challenges, the public’s willingness to participate in carbon reduction actions will naturally decrease if there is still no policy support and infrastructure expansion. Thus, the government should actively create a friendly environment for electric vehicles through regulations and policies. For instance, the government can enact special laws or provisions related to EV charging, clarify the definition of fast, slow, and public charging, regulate the location and proportion of charging equipment to be built and impose penalties for occupying and obstructing charging, and so on, so that relevant government agencies, businesses, and the public have the relevant laws and regulations to follow.
In addition, setting and popularizing the smart grid is also very important for the development of electric vehicles. Through V2G (Vehicle-to-grid) technology, rechargeable electric vehicles, including BEVs, PHEVs, and hydrogen vehicles, can become energy storage devices, feed electricity back to the grid, or adjust the charging speed according to the electricity fee to stabilize the power supply. In other words, the relationship between charging piles and EVs is not a one-way relationship in which charging piles supply electricity to EVs. Through the smart grid, the electric vehicle will become a large mobile battery to provide electricity to the energy system in reverse and control the energy use more precisely.
Conclusion
All in all, although there is still considerable room for improvement in the development of electric vehicles in Taiwan, the software-defined MIH open platform for electric vehicles, which Taiwanese companies have worked together to create, breaks away from the traditional hardware-based automotive industry, allowing the software and hardware to be developed parallelly. Through the industry alliance and open specifications, the electric vehicle standard can be jointly developed, and electric vehicles can be made at a more affordable price. Under the global trend of banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles, it is inevitable for electric vehicles to become the mainstream in Taiwan's automotive market in the long run.
Compared with other international benchmarking countries and Asian neighbors, Taiwan is too conservative in the target schedule of banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles. So far, the government has not yet announced the supporting measures to assist in the decommissioning of fuel vehicles, and efforts from the government are still needed to create a friendly environment for electric vehicles. With President Tsai Ing-wen's announcement of the goal of net zero emissions by 2050, the issue of carbon reduction in the transportation sector is even more urgent and cannot be ignored. According to the Environmental Protection Administration (2021), the transportation sector in Taiwan accounted for about 12.53% of the total emissions, ranking fourth among the six major sectors. While the ground transportation system is the main source of emissions in the transportation sector, accounting for 95.6% of the total, of which small passenger cars and motorcycles account for two-thirds of emissions. For Taiwan, the policy significance of promoting the popularization of electric vehicles is not only to achieve carbon reduction goals, but also an opportunity to improve Taiwan's air quality.
Furthermore, as countries successively release timetables for banning the sale of traditional fuel vehicles, the development of the automobile market towards electrification has become an irreversible international trend. The European Union, Norway, the United States, and Canada not only actively support the domestic electric vehicle industry and invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, but also actively grab a share in the global electric vehicle market. Meanwhile, China, Japan, South Korea and other Asian neighbors are all geared up for taking a place in the market. On the other hand, if Taiwan cannot find a niche in this electric vehicle trend, then by 2050, Taiwan will fall far behind the neighboring Asian countries. Therefore, the government should consider Taiwan's ability to compete in the global electric vehicle market and manufacturing chain to build up its own niche to earn the real benefits.
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Japan
- NeV（2020）。EV等保有台數統計〈EV等保有台数統計〉。2021/10/25檢索。
- Toyota（2020）。2022年春開始燃料電池大型貨車的運行示範〈燃料電池大型トラックの走行実証を2022年春頃より開始〉。2021/10/13檢索。
- 自動車課（2020）。自動車的現狀和電動化的推進〈自動車を取り巻く現状と電動化の推進について〉。2021/10/13檢索。
- 自檢協（2020）。令和元年12月末自動車保有車輛數月報發行〈令和元年12月末の自動車保有車両数月報を発行〉。2021/10/25檢索。
- 能源廳（2021）。關於燃料電池車．加氫站業務的現狀〈FCV・水素ステーション事業の現状について〉。2021/9/30檢索。
- 經產省（2021a）。令和4年度經濟產業政策重點〈令和4年度経済産業政策の重点〉。2021/9/27檢索。
- 經產省（2021b）。2050年碳中和的綠色成長戰略〈2050年カーボンニュートラルに伴うグリーン成長戦略〉。2021/10/13檢索。
Korea
- 가스신문（2021）。2030年燃油車銷售終止…環保汽車法修正案提議〈2030년 내연기관차 판매 종식…친환경자동차법 개정안 발의〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 뉴스핌（2021）。[2021預算案]環境部綠色新政投入4.5兆韓元...環保汽車普及將支援1.5兆韓元〈[2021 예산안] 환경부, 그린뉴딜에 4.5조 투입...친환경차 보급 1.5조 지원〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 뉴스핌（2021）。環保汽車在國內占有率突破10%...氫能車也"迎春風"〈친환경차 국내 점유율 10% 돌파...수소차도 '기지개'〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 정책브리핑（2021）。5年內將普及113萬輛電動車和20萬輛氫能車〈5년 내 전기차 113만대·수소차 20만대 보급한다〉。2021/10/29檢索。
Taiwan
- DDCAR (2021)。〈台灣公共充電樁建置計畫曝光，力拚 2025 年全台達 7800 個充電樁〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 報導者（2021）。〈蔡總統宣示淨零轉型之後，運具電動化如何加快腳步？〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 聯合報（2021）。〈解決建物設置充電樁爭議 內政部擬修法放寬條件〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 中國時報（2021）。〈公共充電樁藍圖曝 2025衝7800座〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 財團法人車輛研究測試中心（2021）。〈全球主要國家/地區電動車充電基礎設施政策〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 財團法人中技社（2014）。〈我國電動車產業發展〉。2021/10/29檢索。
- 臺灣⼤學⾵險社會與政策研究中⼼ （2021）。〈臺灣氣候⾵險與機會〉。2021/10/29檢索。
