China Supports Transportation of Commercial NEVs by Rail

On January 30, the Chinese government released Opinions on Supporting Transportation of Commercial New Energy Vehicles by Rail to Serve the Development of the Industry (“Opinions”). The Opinions has come into effect since January 3, 2023.

The Opinions encourages rail transport enterprises to carry out commercial new energy vehicles (“NEVs”) by rail, clarifying that commercial NEVs by rail will not be managed as dangerous goods. The Opinions requires standardizing rail transport conditions, strengthening management of rail transport and supervision of rail transport safety. The Opinions clarifies that the state of charge of power batteries of commercial NEVs shall not exceed 65%, and it shall not to refill or extract fuel during transporting hybrid vehicles by rail. When consigning commercial NEVs, except for the assembled battery, no spare batteries and other batteries shall be entrained. and no other items shall be loaded in the interior and trunk of the NEVs except for the necessary items equipped in the factory.