Beijing Will Give Drivers Money To Give Up Polluting Cars

Beijing is so desperate to get high-polluting cars off the roads, the city has devised a scheme that will pay citizens as much as $3600 to give up heavily polluting vehicles -- and even give drivers more money to purchase cleaner cars.

The scheme by the environmental protection bureau is only one part of a massive plan to get Beijing's more than 350,000 high-polluting vehicles out of the city during 2009. China's capital has already banned cars from the roads on one of five weekdays based on their license plate number as part of a six-month trial that follows broader anti-traffic restrictions during the 2008 Olympic Games. The pay-off, say officials, is a 7 percent rise in blue sky days this year (although as we've mentioned, that statistic remains suspicious).

The initiative would take about 10 percent of the city's 3.5-million registered cars off the roads -- an amount that is estimated to account for 50 percent of the city's notorious vehicle pollution.
Read the full story here.

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Comments

[iPolitics]

smart money

[pieco]

Its Nice idea to Collect More Money..

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[BMissy]

Please help with the economic and global problems created by oil company greed and the resulting pollution caused by the use of this resource. A far better solution than an electric Hybrid is available.

There is a car that is getting ready for mass production. It runs on AIR. That's correct, AIR! This car needs to be brought to America. It is manufactured by MDI in France. It is referred to as the Air Car.

http://zeropollutionmotors.us/?page_id=46

[TheGlobalPatriot]

Seems like a great idea on the surface, but does this also mean that they will only be selling "less polluting" cars in China going forward?

[SangZe]

The U.S> might learn something here.

[LMPE]

The government pays the people. How long before Glenn Beck rants that this is another example of socialism?

[lmvd3]

WHY doesn't Ford, Chrysler and Chevy pick up on this? They could make a huge FORTUNE producing super-clean, high-mileage cars to export to China. DUUHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[BMissy]

MDI is already in contract agreements to bring the AIRcar to china. No fossil fuel..AIR!

[Myshkin57]

What would be really great is if they could make a kit to fit electric engines into old chassis. That would be REALLY green because we wouldn't be throwing out the whole vehicle.

[jferguson]

Unlike paper and explosive, the Chinese didn't think of this. Program to pay people for old cars is called "Scrappage­." Government pays significant money ($multi-K) for you to trade in an old car which must be destroyed, You must also buy a new car, which must be greener.

Scrappage gets old polluters off road and in US would give car makers something to do.

To the guys who think we need the economic equivalent of WW2 to get the economy moving again, since we can't build planes, jeeps, and tanks which are subsequently pushed into the Ocean in Okinawa, maybe we can do this.

[ProudAmericanLiberal]

They could go back to bicycles. It wasn't that long ago that Beijing was a bicycle-driven city, but they were banned to encourage people to "modernize" to a car culture.

[TN60]

Then why was it reported that the Chinese were busy building a new interstate network that will be as extensive as ours.?????

Let's hope that the Obama administration recognizes the need for tons of rail to get the guzzling big rigs off our interstates along with transits to get rid of so many cars !

[sheila]

meanwhile, we won't even implement a feed in tariff so people who produce clean energy on their homes can be paid for it. we are the least green country on the planet. Big Energy rules this country, and we all let them. it's depressing.

[wdw505]

"we are the least green country on the planet." that is simply untrue....­....third world nations are the least green by far

[KillTheMessenger]

Not quite. We are doing better in terms of handling of pollutants and toxins (but only since the 1950s) but we use far more energy per capita than third world nations. And therein lies our problem. We can't afford to be so wasteful.

[RoseMerry]

Texas does this also. If your veh is over a certain age, you can qualify for $3000 to get a new veh that pollutes less.

[binq56]

Ten percent of the cars cause 50 percent of the pollution? How does that work?

[AtheistUS]

Worst old cars make most pollution. Same as here in Los Angeles. I guess if they will remove worst 10% of cars, the pollution will drop 50%.

[RobinSeattle]

California---home of the car confiscation act (otherwise known as Smog Check).

The most equitable solution here is not to effectively make working class people junk their cars when they can no longer afford to fix them so they comply with emissions standards even when those cars are still getting good gas mileage. It is to make Detroit and the other auto manufacturers produce greener and higher quality cars.

Smog Check and similar programs blame the victim of our shortsighted mileage policies while letting the perpetrators in Detroit, Tokyo, Seoul and Berlin completely off the hook. This has to change. Smog Check is a burden on American families and if some Republican politician actually ran against it he would win in a landslide. But the GOP is so beholden to service station owners and car repair outfits that they won't.

[binq56]

I think it is actually just another one of those things that the government will say and it has no basis in fact. Having lived in China I am sure that some cars will be removed and lots of bribes will be paid and business as usual will go on while the government claims to have promoted their harmonious society. It is all smoke and mirrors.

[anandakos]

Ummm, has Beijing moved to New England? The accompanying photo is most definitely not from China.