Wan Gang, Chairman of China Association for Science and Technology: the Trend of Electrification, Intelligence and Sharing Will Reshape the World’s Automobile Energy Landscape

Wan Gang, Vice Chairman of CPPCC and Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, expressed on July 2 that against the background of a new round of scientific and technological change, the trend of electrification, intelligence and sharing are driving the global automobile industry towards a dramatic change that has never happened in the past one hundred years, which will reshape the automobile energy landscape across the world.

The 2019 World New Energy Vehicle Congress, co-sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Hainan Provincial Government, kicked off on 2 July in Bo’ao, Hainan Province. Wan Gang expressed the above remarks in his speech about the conference at the opening ceremony.

According to Wan Gang, the trend of electrification, intelligence and sharing has pushed forward the comprehensive transformation in energy, production, driving modes, and sales and uses of automobiles in this industry. The global automobile industry is undergoing an unprecedented change in terms of speed, depth and width. This dramatic change not only offers fresh momentum for the development of the global automobile industry, but also brings historic opportunities for the reshaping of global automobile energy landscape, seeking new ways to address global climate change, and the achieving of sustainable development of the automobile industry. As Wan Gang expressed, the essence of electrification is characterized by the shift from traditional driving energies to electricity as the major driving force for vehicles. Vehicles powered by new energies have become the symbol of the transformation and upgrading of the global automobile industry. By the end of 2018, the global sales of new energy vehicles had amounted 5.64 million in number, with China accounting for 52.8% of the total. China has made an important contribution to energy conservation, carbon reduction and adaptation to climate change.

The essence of intelligence is characterized by the change in the ways automobiles are produced and driven. The change in driving modes is embodied in the use of intelligent networks and automatic driving, and the change in R&D and production is shown through intelligent manufacturing and industrial Internet. In the future, it is more likely to realize automobiles’ functions interconnected with smart city, smart transportation and smart energy. With the increasing support from supporting technologies and industries like 5G mobile internet, BeiDou navigation, sensor technology, smart transportation and smart energy infrastructure, China’s intelligent network, technology of automatic driving and their integrated development with other sectors will see a rapid development in the near future. The essence of sharing is characterized by the change in the consumption market of automobiles.

Sharing the use of automobile is a new way to use automobiles that emerges in response to the demands rising from the consumption market of automobiles in the Era of Sharing Economy. Specific ways of sharing include hourly paid service, online car-hailing and comprehensive travel services. With these new ways of services are coming a large number of potential users, and the ways to sale automobiles are also changing. Meanwhile, parking spaces, charging facilities, etc. should be taken into consideration when it comes to the sharing of vehicles, thus to improve the utilization of social resources.

Wan Gang expressed that considered in terms of industrial development, China’s new energy vehicles have already integrated into the world. In an effort to welcome the unprecedented change in the global automobile industry that has never happened in the past one hundred years, “we are willing to carry out sincere cooperation with peers from the automobile industry across the world, to collaborate and innovate, and to make due contributions to the transformation and upgrading of the global automobile industry.”