By: ANTIMEDIA — Companies tied to the emerging electric vehicle (EV) market saw their share prices Monday following a Chinese government official’s announcement over the weekend that China has begun investigating when to ban fossil fuel-based vehicles completely.

“Some countries have made a timeline for when to stop the production and sales of traditional fuel cars,” the vice minister of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Goubin, said Saturday, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Continuing, Xin telegraphed that his country’s auto industry — the largest on the planet — should prepare in advance for the ministry’s findings and begin to adapt their strategies accordingly:

“The ministry has also started relevant research and will make such a timeline with relevant departments. Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry’s development.”

The vice minister’s statements were welcomed by EV automakers, who saw a spike in their stock prices as the week began. Tesla Motors, for instance, which only produces electric vehicles and is readying to roll out its first mass-market car, the Model 3, saw its stock climb five percent.

BYD Auto, China’s biggest EV manufacturer, similarly saw its shares jump Monday, with prices rising in both its Shanghai and Hong Kong markets. The stock value of another Chinese automaker, BAIC Motor Corp., rose nearly three percent following the news of the government’s intentions.

But the celebration wasn’t for automakers alone. Even companies tangentially connected to the EV market saw gains. Jiangxi Gangfeng Lithium, which specializes in lithium-based products — such as the batteries that power electric vehicles — saw its share price jump over five percent Monday.

Some of the other countries vice minister Xin alluded to over the weekend — countries seeking to altogether ban the production and sale of fossil fuel-based vehicles — include France, the United Kingdom, India, and Norway.

Both France and the U.K. have presented plans to cease production of gas-powered automobiles by 2040. India wants all vehicles manufactured in-country to be powered by electricity by 2030. Norway has set an even earlier deadline, saying machines on its roads should produce zero emissions by the year 2025.

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