The output of new energy vehicles in Shanghai will reach 30 billion yuan (US$4.41 billion) by 2012, municipal authorities said Sunday.

Further, Shanghai will build 25,000 charging stations for battery or hybrid power new energy vehicles by 2012, said Wang Zhe, an official with Shanghai's new energy automobile promotion office at the International Forum on Chinese Automobile Industry Development in Tianjin.

"With government support in purchasing, R&D and infrastructure, Shanghai will be able to produce 100,000 new energy vehicles every year, including 60,000 passenger vehicles by 2012. About 20,000 of them will be for private use," Wang said.

The city is also applying to the National Development and Reform Commission for additional subsidies for private buyers of new energy vehicles, he added without providing details.

By the end of 2009, more than 2.43 million vehicles have been licensed in Shanghai. The number of private vehicles in the city has been increasing by 20 percent annually since 2006.

Dubbed the economic capital of China, Shanghai, especially its Jiading District, is also a major automobile manufacturing hub.

Jiading is working to become a leader in developing and manufacturing new energy vehicles in China, Fei Xiaomei, deputy district head, said Sunday in Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2010)