According to a recently released report from China's First Institute of Electric Propulsion, the 25 cities participating in China's nationwide electric vehicle demonstration program had reached only about 38% of their deployment goals, as of October 2011.

The "Ten Cities Thousand Vehicles" program, launched in 13 cities in January 2009 by a group of central Chinese government ministries, had initially planned to expand to an additional 10 cities each year over a period of three years, bringing at least 1,000 new energy vehicles into operation in each of the demonstration cities. The plan aimed to give new energy vehicles a 10% share of the total auto market by 2012.

Jinan, one of the original 13 pilot cities, has experienced the slowest progress in meeting its electric vehicle deployment goals, both in number of vehicles on the road, and construction of accompanying infrastructure. According to insiders, Jinan has only one charging station at present, with no vehicles currently in operation. Moreover, due to a design flaw, the charging station only accommodates small passenger vehicles; large buses that enter the station get stuck and are unable to turn around.

A source close to the Jinan municipal government said the city has remained passive throughout. "They're not willing to try to feel out their own path, but prefer to wait and emulate other cities. They would rather wait until they see a mature and practical way forward to make their move," said the source.

The three frontrunners, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hefei, are in the lead each with 1,374, 2,011, and 2,018 new energy vehicles in operation, according to Director Pang Yicheng of the First Institute of Electric Propulsion. But despite their achievements, all three cities remain far from their initial goals: Shenzhen lags far behind its target of 34,000 new energy vehicles in operation by the end of 2012.

Despite slow progress across the board, many cities began talk of even more ambitious targets for the 12th Five-Year Plan period last year. Hangzhou, for example, set a new goal of 23,000 new energy passenger vehicles, while Shenzhen aims for new energy vehicles to account for 5% of total passenger vehicles in operation, and Hefei plans to deploy a whopping 100,000 new energy cars over the next five years.

"The leading pilot cities only have around 2 or 3 thousand vehicles on the road, and now without even having reached their current targets, they're setting even higher ones. It really boggles the mind," said an expert who wished to remain anonymous.

[Graphic from the China Greentech Report 2011, via chinadialogue]