SHANGHAI-- Tesla Motors Inc. said it would modify its electric
cars to meet China's charging standards in a bid to allay concerns
over its technology incompatibility in the country, where the
company's sales have fallen short of its expectations.
Authorities in China are developing a national charging standard
to promote the use of electric cars and help ease driver "range
anxiety" over how far the cars can travel before running out of
power. It remains unclear when it will be completed.
The lack of sufficient charging infrastructure and Tesla's
current technology incompatibility with the Chinese
government-initiated charging network are holding Chinese buyers
back, analysts say.
Statistics from U.S. research firm JL Warren Capital show that
fewer than 2,500 Tesla cars were registered in China in the nine
months from April 2014, when the company started deliveries there.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk told The Wall Street Journal a year
ago that he would consider it a success if Tesla were to sell 5,000
vehicles or more in China in 2014.
Tesla declined to comment on the registration figures. The
company cut jobs in China earlier this year after missing sales
targets.
The American electric car maker has dished out millions of
dollars to install so-called supercharging stations around the
world to appeal to buyers worried about infrastructure. These
direct-current chargers can deliver 120 kilowatts of electricity
and recharge 80% of a 85 kilowatt-hour Model S battery in just 30
minutes.
However, its rapid-charge technology isn't compatible with
electric cars built by other manufacturers, raising concerns among
Chinese consumers about the lack of access to charge Tesla
cars.
In a statement posted on its website on Monday, Tesla said it
would modify its cars to fit Chinese national charging standards.
"We will fully cooperate with the Chinese government in drafting
the national charging standards as well as building public charging
infrastructure," Zhu Xiaotong, country head for Tesla in China,
said in the statement.
The Chinese government has said it won't support the
construction of charging stations that fail to meet the emerging
Chinese standard. BMW AG last year struck a deal with the city
government of Shanghai to build charging stations that can supply
electricity for cars by other manufacturers.
Tesla's statement comes as China itself struggles to meet its
own long-stated goal of reducing its dependency on imported oil by
promoting alternative-energy vehicles. China wants half a million
such vehicles on the road by the end of this year and 10 times that
by the end of the decade. But last year only around 50,000 cars out
of the roughly 20 million passenger vehicles sold in China met that
criteria.
--Rose Yu
Access Investor Kit for Tesla Motors, Inc.
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