Beijing to expand use of clean vehicles

Beijing has pledged to increase the number of new-energy and small vehicles to 200,000 by 2017, in a bid to improve air quality, according to the five-year clean air action plan (2013-17), which was released on Thursday.

Vehicle owners will be exempt from the license lottery and about 70 percent of the quota will be assigned to individual buyers.

Meanwhile, the municipal government will restrict the number of new cars on the road each year from January 2014. The government will also take the lead in buying and using new-energy cars, said the plan.

There are more than 5.2 million cars in Beijing, and the figure is expected to reach 6 million by 2015, according to Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.

Beijing pledged to reduce PM2.5 density by a minimum of 25 percent by 2017.

Last week, Wan Gang, minister of science and technology, said the State Council has approved plans to offer subsidies for clean-energy vehicle purchases.