China seeks NEV sales to hit 25% of all car sales in 2025

BEIJING/SHANGHAI- China has high hopes that New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sales will scope up a quarter of all car sales in 2025 from a mark of “above 20%’ stated in a 2017 prospectus, the industry ministry said on Tuesday.

Chinese market for new energy vehicle, that which offers plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles, and hydrogen cells powered vehicles, was viewed to pull the dwindling car market up with 62% sales in 2018 against a 2.8% decline in overall automotive sales.

However, a sharp reduction of subsidies this year impacted new energy vehicle sales in recent months as just this October, its sale sunk down with 45.6%.

NEV shared 4.5% in overall market sales as 1.3 million NEVs in a total of 28.1 million cars were sold by China last 2018, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s plan on new energy vehicles emphasized China’s drive to pursue electric vehicle battery technologies as it upgrades infrastructure that would facilitate hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and connected vehicles.

The prospectus discussing NEV development vision ranging from 2021 to 2035 did not state sales prediction or targets for 2030 or 2035. In line with this, China focused on implementing stricter green car quotas that would demand carmakers to produce a specific number of NEVs.