Cars and coaches during a traffic jam as haze covers the highway in Beijing, China. The capital is one of six cities where buying an electric vehicle is considerably easier than obtaining a petrol-powered car. Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
Cars and coaches during a traffic jam as haze covers the highway in Beijing, China. The capital is one of six cities where buying an electric vehicle is considerably easier than obtaining a petrol-powered car. Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
Cars and coaches during a traffic jam as haze covers the highway in Beijing, China. The capital is one of six cities where buying an electric vehicle is considerably easier than obtaining a petrol-powered car. Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
Cars and coaches during a traffic jam as haze covers the highway in Beijing, China. The capital is one of six cities where buying an electric vehicle is considerably easier than obtaining a petrol-pow

Six Chinese cities where an electric car makes more sense than petrol


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After trying for two years to get a licence for a petrol-powered car in Beijing’s bimonthly lottery, Gary Zhong gave up and bought the Qin EV300 electric vehicle from Warren Buffett-backed BYD.

“There was no other way,” said Mr Zhong, 31. “I would have waited forever to get a gasoline-car licence, but instead I now find my EV actually works quite well for commuting.”

Mr Zhong exemplifies the early success China is having with its push toward electric vehicles instead of gas guzzlers. While car buyers in China - and everywhere else - still overwhelmingly prefer internal-combustion engines, the country’s carrot-and-stick policies are helping create new opportunities for domestic makers such as BYD and BAIC Motor and global challengers such as BMW and Tesla.

The six Chinese cities that implemented petrol-car restrictions accounted for 40 per cent of the nation’s electric-car sales of 579,000 last year - and 21 per cent of the world’s EV sales, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Sales in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Guangzhou are increasing by two to four times the national average, and purchases by individuals versus governments and car-sharing services are at a higher level than elsewhere.

The list price of an electric car - the Qin EV3000 is about $37,000 - often tops that of gas guzzlers in China, yet buying an EV often makes sense when considering the difficulties in obtaining an internal-combustion engine vehicle.

“City restrictions have effectively pushed EV sales in China,” said Nannan Kou, a senior associate at BNEF in Beijing who co-wrote the report. “Auto makers in China definitely need to prioritise the cities with restrictions in terms of advertisement, sales efforts and government relationships.”

Getting a licence plate for a petrol-driven car can take years through a lottery - held every other month in Beijing starting in February- or cost more than $14,000 in a monthly auction in Shanghai. An EV licence is free and often can be obtained a lot faster.

Sales of electric cars still have a ways to go before surpassing those of petrol vehicles - EVs accounted for about 2 per cent of China’s passenger car sales last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. By comparison, the global market share is less than 1 per cent, BNEF said.

More Chinese cities are set to add restrictions on fossil-fuel vehicles as the country fights air pollution and highway congestion. Hainan island said this month it would limit petrol-car registrations, and others likely to follow include Nanjing, Foshan, Chengdu and Xi’an, BNEF said.

China is working on a timetable to end the production and sales of internal-combustion vehicles, and it wants electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles to account for 20 per cent of annual new-vehicle sales by 2025.

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Shanghai started auctioning licence plates in 1994 to control the fleet size in the congested megacity, which last year had 24.2 million residents and 3.59 million vehicles. The price for a petrol-car permit hit a record 93,500 yuan in October - equivalent to the domestic sticker price of a Volkswagen Santana or Ford Escort. The local government has been handing out unlimited EV licences for free since 2014.

Beijing has run a lottery since 2011, and 2.9 million applicants are competing for 40,000 licences this year. The use of petrol cars is further restricted to certain licence-plate numbers on certain days of the week.

Wu Jun, a 28-year-old Beijinger, bought a BAIC EV 200 as the third car for her family after realising her chances for scoring another petrol-car licence were small. Her parents opposed the idea at first, but now everybody in the family wants to drive the car nicknamed the Xiaobai, she said.

“I never regretted the choice,” Ms Wu said. “It is so convenient to use and so economical. I wouldn’t buy any more gasoline cars.”

Three of her relatives bought EVs after losing the lottery - with some having tried for more than five years.

While EVs help fight pollution, they do little for congestion. That’s why EV sales face a ceiling in China’s biggest cities once the number of vehicles hits limits set by authorities, BNEF said. That effort may be challenged by China’s decision last week (CORRECT) to cut the import duty on passenger cars.

Beijing capped the number of EV licence plates at 60,000 this year, and there were 218,000 applicants as of February, BNEF said.

Zhong, who bought his BYD car in 2016, said some of his friends in Beijing now want an electric car but have to wait for a licence.

Lower-tier cities also are trying to boost EV ownership. Liuzhou, in south-western Guangxi province, allows EVs to drive in bus lanes and provides preferential parking spots.

Qian Weijin, 41, said he drives his tiny two-seat electric car, the Baojun E100 from General Motors’ local joint venture, more than his two petrol cars because of the perks. About 12,000 new-energy vehicles were sold in the city last year, even without ownership restrictions.

“I can see many people driving these cute, clean and colourful electric cars on Liuzhou streets these days,” said Mr Qian, who has logged more than 3,600 kilometres  since November.

“EVs are actually very convenient.”

Opening day UAE Premiership fixtures, Friday, September 22:

  • Dubai Sports City Eagles v Dubai Exiles
  • Dubai Hurricanes v Abu Dhabi Saracens
  • Jebel Ali Dragons v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
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Name: The Protein Bakeshop

Date of start: 2013

Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani

Based: Dubai

Size, number of employees: 12

Funding/investors:  $400,000 (2018) 

PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

Understand What Black Is

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Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Going grey? A stylist's advice

If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
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Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission: eight-speed PDK

Power: 630bhp

Torque: 820Nm

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TOURNAMENT INFO

Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier

Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November

UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi

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Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
RESULTS

Welterweight

Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) beat Mostafa Radi (PAL)

(Unanimous points decision)

Catchweight 75kg

Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) beat Leandro Martins (BRA)

(Second round knockout)

Flyweight (female)

Manon Fiorot (FRA) beat Corinne Laframboise (CAN)

(RSC in third round)

Featherweight

Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB) beat Ahmed Al Darmaki

(Disqualification)

Lightweight

Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) beat Rey Nacionales (PHI)

(Unanimous points)

Featherweight

Yousef Al Housani (UAE) beat Mohamed Fargan (IND)

(TKO first round)

Catchweight 69kg

Jung Han-gook (KOR) beat Max Lima (BRA)

(First round submission by foot-lock)

Catchweight 71kg

Usman Nurmogamedov (RUS) beat Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)

(TKO round 1).

Featherweight title (5 rounds)

Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)

(TKO round 1).

Lightweight title (5 rounds)

Bruno Machado (BRA) beat Mike Santiago (USA)

(RSC round 2).

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ALL THE RESULTS

Bantamweight

Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.

Lightweight

Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.

Catch 74kg

Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.

Strawweight (Female)

Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.

Lightweight

Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.

Welterweight

Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.

Bantamweight

Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.

Lightweight

Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.

Lightweight

Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.

Welterweight

Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.

Featherweight title bout

Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Engine: 3.0-litre supercharged V6

Power 375hp @ 6,500rpm

Torque: 450Nm @ 3,500rpm

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Fuel consumption, combined: 9.4L / 100kms