Abstract:

Due to the accelerating global trend of low-carbon energy transformation and China's strategy of facilitating "carbon peaking and carbon neutralization," China's local governments have been intensively issuing fuel cell vehicle policies in recent years to seize the opportunity of hydrogen energy development and create new momentum for the local economy and society. This study evaluates the local policy status of fuel cell vehicles based on the overall situation of fuel cell vehicles and their relative national policies in China. Twenty representative cities covering all the seven regions in China are selected to research policy readiness for fuel cell vehicles since cities are the key target for industry development and policy implementation. Taking "fuel cell vehicle" as the key theme while giving due consideration to "hydrogen energy" and "fuel cell," 197 local policy texts of fuel cell vehicles issued from 2018 to the first half of 2021 are statistically explored. This study constructs an evaluation index system and model for city policy readiness using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Delphi, and content-analysis methods. The index system is composed of four dimensions, namely planning goals, fiscal and tax policies, non-fiscal and tax policies, as well as cooperation mechanisms. Furthermore, there are 13 corresponding secondary indicators for the four dimensions, such as vehicle promotion goals, and 39 tertiary indicators, such as application fields, determined with their respective weights and included in the index system. The policy readiness of fuel cell vehicles for 20 representative cities is measured and ranked by deploying the evaluation model. The results show that the overall readiness level of fuel cell vehicle policies in these Chinese cities is not high. In contrast, a local policy system guided by planning goals, supported by non-fiscal tax policies, and cross-regional cooperation and coordination has been preliminarily formed. This study summarizes regional policy imbalance and points out city policy highlights and weaknesses by analyzing differences of specific policy dimensions and indicators among cities. Finally, suggestions to optimize the local policies of fuel cell vehicles have been put forward, such as adjusting measures to local conditions, strengthening city demonstration goal guidance, short-term supply-oriented policies, long-term environmental support policy tools, and focusing more on sustainable development policies for the after-demonstration stage.

Key words: fuel cell vehicle (FCV), local policy, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), readiness