Shanghai, China’s economic hub, the city with the highest purchasing power, home to NIO’s headquarters and Tesla’s China super factory, became the place where the most new energy vehicles were sold in 2021 of all Chinese cities.
According to a report from D1EV Institute , which is an automotive supplier and distributor company, it shows that Shanghai took the first place and there were 240,757 new energy passenger vehicles being sold, the second was Shenzhen’s 148,976 units and the third was Beijing’s 130,815 units.
Tesla – the most popular EVs in Shanghai and Shenzhen
180,000 units sold in the private car market in Shanghai in 2021. Tesla Model Y and Tesla Model 3 sales exceeded 20,000 units, and they became the two most preferred vehicles. Shenzhen private market sales broke 100,000 units, Tesla Model 3, BYD Han EV, Tesla Model Y sales broke 10,000 units, it’s the three most popular models for Shenzhen citizens.
Behind the results
The reason why Shanghai sells the most electric cars is of course influenced by the different policies of the city, but more importantly by the friendly attitude of Shanghai towards electric cars.
What is Shanghai doing?
1. Offering a free license plate to buyers of NEVs
It needs to be paid only when the vehicle is retired and cannot be transferred to the next vehicle. The free license plate makes people more willing to buy EVs, rather than only the rich being able to afford it.
2. Auction system of fuel car license plates
On the other hand, they provide an auction for fuel car license plates. In order to control the amount of fuel car license plates, this is not a market for the highest bidder, it is only sold when people who bid closest to the average value in the guideline range are eligible to buy a license plate.
These two policies made Shanghai the top sales among all China cities but the sales of Tesla told us that policies are not the only reason that made them the top, and also the purchasing power of citizens.
