The red alert closed down schools and shut down more than 2,000 factories and 3,500 constructions sites. But there are no restrictions on electric vehicles.
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One traveler on a high-speed train from the capital to the central province of Hubei posted on social media: “Every city in north China that I passed was covered by smog and looked like a dead town”.
The agreement follows Beijing’s first “red alert” warning over pollution levels earlier this week. This could prove to be a boost for an already booming electric vehicle industry, as China is already poised to overtake the United States at the largest market for electric cars.
Rapid industrial growth and auto ownership have led to surging levels of pollution in major urban areas and Chinese researchers have identified the problem as a major source of unrest.
Regardless of the electric auto market’s potential, Peter Ford, The Christian Science Monitor’s Beijing correspondent, describes the blinding pollution as an immediate threat. The reduction in pollutants in Beijing was dramatic with the China Environment Protection Bureau reporting an air quality index (AQI) of 37 at 9pm.
But now, those cars have packed the roads (and even sidewalks on bad rush-hour days) of China’s ballooning cities, aggravating the toxic air. On December 6, Reuters reported China would eclipse the U.S.as the global leader in electric vehicle sales. Although electric cars reduce gasoline pollution, they still need to be recharged using electricity that is generated by coal-burning power plants.
Automakers can’t be certain the increase in inquiries will translate into sales.
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By Thursday afternoon they were down to as low as 15 at times as moderate winds blew from the north, below even the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure of 25. Electricity generation, though still powered largely by coal in China, does offer a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as recent studies about EV use in America’s dirtiest grids confirm.
