China’s Smog Boom For Electric Cars?

While declaring red alert in Beijing, the government told its residents to take precautions with their health.

Beijing’s first ever red alert for smog was lifted Thursday, as blue skies and sunshine replaced the thick haze that covered the city for days.

The newspaper said that, according to search ratings provided for the week by China’s largest online shopping platform Taobao.com, searches for condoms correlated with Chinese cities with heavy smog. Beijing’s vehicle restrictions of odd and even number plates will last until noon on Thursday.

And on Tuesday came China’s first pollution red alert. And that is prompted a rush of inquiries from would be buyers, automakers and dealers say.

The site PM25.in (Chinese) tracks the real-time air quality ranking of cities, also showing how far their emissions travel.

There has been a rise in online orders for the contraception after many parts of the city were closed to protect people from its deadly air earlier this week, the Times of India reports.

That was good news for the electric auto industry.

“I am contemplating (an electric car) as the brand new policy means electric cars are not restricted from driving on significant pollution days while other kinds are”, said Wang Chao, 26, sizing up electric vehicles at a BYD Co Ltd (1211.HK) (002594.SZ) auto dealer on Wednesday.

But instead of an environmental wake-up call, prospective buyers are considering electric cars in Beijing out of a newfound practicality.

Electric cars are also heavily subsidised, and that’s lead to a near five-fold increase in sales.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said the mayor of Dezhou, a midsized industrial city in the northeastern province of Shandong, could face more serious consequences if the situation there did not improve.

A recent study by Carnegie Mellon University found that a shift to electric cars in China might cause more air pollution because of the nation’s emissions-intensive electricity grid.