New electric car plate applicants in Beijing will have to wait for at least 4 years to get a license, according to a new memo released by Beijing's Transport Commission.

北京交通部一份新备忘录显示，北京新能源汽车车牌的申请者需要等待至少4年才能得到一块车牌。

As of April 8, 2018, there are 230,000 valid applications for electric cars. All 60,000 license plate quotas for this year, including those for private and government cars, have been allocated since February.

Nearly 2.7 million applicants are currently in the pool for the petrol car plate lottery. The odds of winning a license plate are 1963:1.

Beijing introduced the car plate lottery in 2011 in an attempt limit the number of vehicles on the road. To reduce air pollution, electric car licenses are currently awarded through queuing. However, they are now becoming difficult to obtain amid the rapid rise in the popularity of electric vehicles.