Investors are anticipating a pick-up in China's production and sales of electric vehicles (EVs), taking a cue from a series of new central government policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and air pollution. Their hopes and expectations were given another boost this past Tuesday, July 13, when the Chinese government announced a "new energy" vehicle mandate requiring at least 30% of new vehicle purchases by local governments and public institutions from 2014-2016 be EVs or other new energy vehicles.

China has vaulted ahead to become the world's largest auto market, as well as the world's largest auto manufacturer, over the past decade. The combination of coal-fired power generation and rapidly rising carbon emissions from vehicles has left Chinese citizens across the country's eastern half subject to a toxic miasma of air pollution, however.