The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday encouraged foreign automakers to apply to take part in the government’s electric car pilot project.
“We will evaluate the applications based on how much they will benefit Taiwan’s industry as a whole,” Industrial Development Bureau deputy director general Chou Neng-chuan (周能傳) said.
The government is encouraging multi-party applications for the project’s grants, in which a county or city government could align itself with automakers, electric battery makers, or battery recharge station operators, to draft a plan to convince the central government to give it one of 10 planned grants.
The government won’t rule out bids from foreign automakers, but they would have to justify how their plans could benefit Taiwanese industry, by using components made by local firms, or producing their electric vehicles locally, Chou told a press conference.
The ministry will publicize details of the project by next Tuesday.
The grants will expire at the end of 2012, and winning proposals must be completed within two years or no later than the end of 2013, the ministry said.
The government will allocate NT$2.2 billion (US$68.4 million) to the electric car pilot project between next year and 2013.
Subsidies will be given to at least 10 “pilot projects” instead of the “pilot zones” announced previously. Chou said the change came because the pilot programs could run across multiple zones instead of one single zone, and the projects could be application-driven instead of zone-driven.
The government’s subsidy will be capped at 40 percent of the total budget of each winning proposal, Chou said.
One likely applicant is Taipei County’s Pinglin Township (坪林), which has voiced interest in a pilot program to boost tourism by having 20 to 30 Luxgen electric cars — made by Yulon Group (裕隆集團) — ferry visitors around town.
The ministry said Pinglin was considering substantially increasing the number of cars.
The government wants to have 3,000 electric-powered vehicles on the road within three years. The electric car infrastructure would include more than 3,100 power-recharge stations by then.
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