Shanghai municipality

Shanghai, a commercial, financial, trade and shipping hub of the Chinese mainland, is renowned for its booming economy.

The city is also a pioneer in building platforms for free trade and investment. The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ) was approved by the State Council on August 17, 2013 as the first pilot free trade zone in China. Since then it has carried out institutional reform and innovation in investment and foreign trade.

Shanghai had 265,000 new-energy vehicles (NEVs) by the end of April 2019 and remains one of the biggest NEVs markets among Chinese cities.

It was also the first city in the nation to launch a city-level fuel cell development plan. The municipal government announced its fuel cell development guideline in September 2017, setting a target of establishing between five and 10 hydrogen filling stations and having 3,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2020.

Shanghai is also promoting new energy vehicles (NEVs), which are not subject to license plate restrictions. In addition to central government subsidies and purchase tax exemptions, consumers in Shanghai who purchase NEVs receive 5,000 yuan (about $706) in subsidies from the municipal government for charging costs.

In July 2018, US electric car maker Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk came to China and signed an investment agreement on a pure electric vehicle project with Lin-gang Special Area of Shanghai. The 50-billion yuan ($7 billion) Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory was put into production in late 2019. Tesla reported revenue of $1.4 billion in China in the second quarter, a year-on-year rise of 102.9 percent and 23.19 percent of the company's total revenue.

Many other renowned domestic and global carmakers have set up NEV plants in Shanghai.