Electric Car Graveyard: Thousands Of EVs Left Deserted By Chinese Car Sharing And Rental Firm
Car sharing or car rentals both the verticals shot up simultaneously in the Chinese transportation scenario Enter electric vehicles and the corresponding heavy subsidies on them. New reports by the Chinese media seem to show that the bubble around these businesses might already have burst. Unused electric cars were seen parked alongside a river on the outskirts of Hangzhou.
While most countries are still finding their way to increase the use of electric-powered transportation, China has been way ahead in the game since the beginning. So much so, that some of the use case scenarios of electric vehicles in the country might actually be dying.
Car sharing or car rentals, both the verticals shot up simultaneously in the Chinese transportation scenario. Enter electric vehicles and the corresponding heavy subsidies on them granted by the Chinese government, many major players shifted their game to EVs altogether, deploying a massive fleet of EVs for the use. Consider it Uber, Ola or rental services like Zoomcar and Droom operating in India.
New reports by the Chinese media, however, seem to show that the bubble around these businesses might already have burst. In recent pictures doing the rounds on the internet, thousands of deserted electric cars can be seen in an enclosed area.
Thousands of electric cars are seen deserted on the outskirts of Hangzhou. (Image: The Paper)
Also read: Predictably Made In China Electric Cars Are Catching On Fire, Chinese Batteries Are The Reason
A graveyard for electric cars?
As per reports by the Chinese media, the unused electric cars were seen parked alongside a river on the outskirts of Hangzhou. All the cars belong to an electric car sharing company called Microcity.
The company claimed to the Chinese media that the cars are still in use. But when the media tried to book a ride through the company¡¯s official app, no cars were available for rental in the vicinity.
A villager in the region was interviewed in the report, claiming that the company has been paying him 30,000 plus yuans (around Rs 3,00,000) per year since last July for the parking area. While another villager claimed that she was denied entry into the area when she tried to visit it out of curiosity.
(Representative Image: Reuters)
Also read: Electric Supercars And Their Shoes: Manufacturers Now Working On Special Tyres For EVs
A bigger problem?
Microcity is not the only car rental company which boomed with the rise in EV economy. Hundreds of others had started out, many of which went bust. One of the several reasons have been the inadequate experiences of the users over time. A bigger issue propelled by the entire car sharing model was the rise in traffic congestion in the country, as the number of cars was only being added to the total.
A similar incident has been seen in China earlier as well, with the country¡¯s bike sharing bubble bursting only last year. If the situation of the electric car rental or sharing ecosystem is not improved, the industry might just be headed to a similar fate.
