A meeting was held on Tuesday in Beijing to promote the development of new energy automobiles with participants keen to speed up changes in the industry.

New energy automobiles will undergo trials in thirteen cities. These cities include Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The government will offer subsidies for purchases of new-energy cars used for public transportation. Subsidies for a bus 10 meters long could be up to 600,000 yuan.

This year Beijing plans to invest 1.3 billion yuan on the purchase of 910 new-energy buses. By the end of the year, it plans to run 1000 new-energy buses in downtown areas. While Shenzhen says it intends to spend 50 million yuan on buying new-energy vehicles, including 30 buses and 20 sedans.

(CCTV February 18, 2009)