In the fall of 2009, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, speaking at a conference, was vocal about his disappointment that the Central Government had still not announced subsidies for new energy vehicles.

FORBES: Will China Subsidize Electric Vehicles?

The centre, which will focus on research into new energy and hybrid vehicles, should be fully open by 2013.

BBC: Chinese car giant to open research centre in Nottingham

They assumed energy costs would remain high permanently and thus sank billions of dollars of scarce capital into developing new low-energy-consuming vehicles such as the hybrids.

FORBES: Our Cover Story

Individual taxpayers, for their part, got some temporary new credits for the purchase of hybrid vehicles and the installation of energy-efficient windows and solar heaters.

FORBES: Magazine Article

When we use American energy to power our homes, businesses, and vehicles, we create new American jobs, grow new American industries, and safeguard our national security and our economic potential.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

Our joint Clean Energy Research Center is funding new approaches to energy efficiency, clean coal -- which we both need to deal with -- and clean vehicles.

WHITEHOUSE: U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue

"One of the things that makes New Zealand the best place in the world for electric vehicles is the fact that we have an abundance of renewable energy, " he explained.

BBC: Attempting to 'kick the carbon habit'