Having been the largest market for electric vehicles for quite a long time, China is currently content with a share of this type of transport in the primary segment of the car market as a whole of no more than 27.61%, but by 2035 it expects to increase this figure to more than 50%. Such guidelines are being set by the Chinese authorities for the first time.
Image source: BYD
While Europe and the US, riding the wave of “electric vehicle enthusiasm” that has somewhat subsided in recent years, set ambitious goals for the transition to electric transport, China carried out such a migration without any particular administrative guidelines. Only last week, the Chinese authorities published a corresponding program, which provides for the transition to the dominance of electric vehicles in the primary passenger car market of the country by the end of 2035. Let us emphasize that we are talking specifically about battery-powered cars, and not hybrids, which were often mentioned in this context earlier.
The Chinese authorities will pay special attention to the development of charging and information infrastructure, which will make the operation of electric vehicles convenient and profitable. In particular, a network of virtual power plants will be created. That is, the traction batteries of electric vehicles can be used during idle hours when connected to charging stations to redistribute electricity.
Last year, 10,895,252 plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles were sold in China, up 40.55% from 2023. Hybrids and electric vehicles accounted for 47.6% of all passenger vehicle sales in China, but pure electric vehicles accounted for only 27.61% of the primary passenger car market. Electric vehicle sales grew by 22.82% last year, accounting for 58% of the plug-in segment.
Last year, the plug-in hybrid market grew faster in China than the electric vehicle segment, with sales growing by 76.69% to 4,582,831 units, accounting for 42% of the hybrid and electric vehicle segment. However, in the first quarter of this year, battery-powered vehicles increased sales by 45.28% to 1.49 million units, while plug-in hybrids only increased by 25.32% to 929,000 units.