China Said to Consider Cutting Subsidies for Electric Buses

Incentives for electric buses will be cut by an average of 32 percent, with funding for the largest models reduced by as much as 49.5 percent, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private. Electric passenger vehicles costing more than 350,000 yuan ($53,800) won’t be eligible for government subsidies under the proposal. The plan is still being reviewed by various ministries and has to be approved by the State Council, or cabinet, the people said. The plan, if approved in its current form, may damp demand electric vehicle sales, which surged more than threefold last year to 331,000 units. China has encouraged consumers to switch from fossil-fuel burning automobiles to emission-free electric cars and gasoline-electric hybrids with the dual aim of mitigating tailpipe pollution and to push its carmakers toward what it sees as the dominant automotive technology of the future.