China's new energy vehicle(NEV)sector posted rapid development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period(2021-25),with the share of NEV sales surging from 5.4 percent recorded in 2020 to 40.9 percent in 2024,injecting strong momentum to the electrification of the global automobile industry,said an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT)at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
Between 2020-2024,China's NEV production has soared from around 1.4 million to around 13 million.Over the period,the country's NEV sales also grew steadily,with the market size increasing more than three-fold,said Xin Guobin,vice minister of the MIIT.
"It is evident that there are more than more NEVs around us,and Chinese-brand NEVs are gaining prominence on the streets of many countries-including automotive powerhouses.This demonstrates that Chinese brands are going global and injecting strong momentum to the electrification of the global automobile industry,"Xin said.
NEVs represent an important direction for the global automotive industry's green development and upgrade,and are important for China to become an automotive powerhouse,the official said.
Xin said that China's automobile makers enhanced investment over the past several years and overcame a batch of technical challenges,which significantly enhanced automobile quality and performance.
For example,the average driving range of electric passenger vehicles is now near 500 kilometers,while battery cell costs have decreased by 30 percent and lifespan increased by 40 percent.Charging speeds have tripled,and the proportion of new passenger vehicles equipped with integrated driver-assistance systems surged from 16.2 percent in 2020 to 62.1 percent in the first half of 2025,according to Xin.
By seizing opportunities of the electrification and intelligence development of the automotive industry over the past five years,the overall competitiveness of China's automobile industry posted notable progress,Xin said.
China's assembled NEV market consumption has exceeded 2 trillion yuan,which effectively drives the rapid development of upstream and downstream industrial chain and related industries,creating enormous economic and social benefits and making important contributions to high-quality economic growth,the official added.
However,we must acknowledge that the industry still faces some non-negligible challenges,for example,shortcomings in high-end large computing power chips for automobiles,said Xin,vowing to improve supportive policies,strengthen breakthroughs in core technologies,regulate market competition order,and sustainably drive high-quality development in the sector.
