U.S. electric carmaker Tesla said Monday that it would deliver its modified Model S and Model X vehicles to the Chinese market to ensure both models meet local charging standards. The models will be slightly modified to meet the standards for Chinese chargers, the company said. The move will give Tesla’s Chinese customers additional charging options besides Tesla’s own charging network. Since Monday, the company has begun providing free adaptors to customers who have earlier models. Tesla has built more than 700 super chargers in China, and that number is expected to top 1,000 by the end of 2017. Tesla’s own electric charging network already covers more than 170 cities in China. The new move is in support of China’s new energy vehicles (NEVs) industry, according to the company. In 2016, China sold 507,000 NEVs, an increase of 53 percent year on year. Sales of pure electric vehicles surged 65.1 percent year on year to 409,000, accounting for 80 percent of new energy vehicle sales. A guideline by the State Council said China will build more than 12,000 new charging stations before 2020 to meet a projected demand of more than 5 million NEVs expected to be on the road by that time.(Xinhua) |