The Chinese government has been vigorously promoting the development of electric vehicles for the purpose of China carving a niche for itself in the global electric vehicle market. Under the new 12th Five-Year Plan for China’s auto industry, developing electric vehicles will become the nation’s foremost priority over the next five years, with the aim of achieving annual electric vehicle sales of one million units by 2015.

According to the recently-issued “State Council’s Decision to Accelerate the Development of Strategic Emerging Industries,” alternative-energy technologies, in the aggregate, should account for 8 percent of China’s GDP. The electric vehicle industry will play a leading role in the country’s economy in the next 10 years.

Part I of this series focused on various rules governing the investment in electric vehicle projects in the People’s Republic of China, including the equity participation and qualification requirements, as well as the rules for establishing the various PRC entities for conducting business in the PRC’s electric vehicle industry. Part II focused on the various intellectual property-related issues for conducting business in the PRC. Part III will discuss how various U.S. export controls-related issues impact investment in the PRC electric vehicle industry (including design, development and/or production of electric vehicles). Read Part III here.

For more information, please contact Vinson & Elkins lawyers Boyd Carano and Margaret Sampson in Palo Alto, Xiao Yong in Hong Kong, Jason Wu and Lili Shen in Houston, Wang Qianqian and Richard Berberian in Beijing, Suzanne Reifman in Washington, DC. Visit our website to learn more about V&E's China practice, or e-mail one of the practice contacts.