The Ministry of Science and Technology reaffirmed its goal to accumulate 500,000 new energy vehicle sales in China in 2015. The Ministry of Science and Technology has also stated that the country’s goal to have 5 million new energy vehicle sales sold in the country by 2020 has not changed.
The 500,000 new energy vehicle sales goal was announced very early on, and was supported by a wave of government policies and subsidies aimed at boosting new energy vehicle sales coming into effect last year. With the announcement of such policies, the goal seemed closer to completion than ever before.
Total new energy vehicle sales in China reached 75,000 units in 2014, representing year-on-year growth of 324 percent. Pure electric sales totaled 45,000 units, representing year-on-year growth of 208 percent, while hybrid sales totaled 30,000 units, up 878 percent from 2013. Despite the rapid increase in new energy vehicle sales in China, the country still lags far behind the US, which sold approximately 400,000 more vehicles of the same type. However, analysts believe that the Chinese new energy vehicle market will surpass that of the US in around two years or so.With the support of favorable government policies, new energy vehicle sales continued to increase in this year, with sales in January totaling 6,599 units.
However Chinese officials have also acknowledged it will be very tough for the country to accumulate 400,000 new energy vehicle sales over the remaining ten months of the year. By reaffirming the goal, the government is stating its resolve to support new energy vehicle sales in the country.
To this end, Chinese infrastructure projects are on the rise. A 2015 report revealed the government’s desire to triple construction of Beijing infrastructure for new energy vehicles. However there is still quite a lot of obstacles that need to be passed if new energy vehicle sales are to increase in second- and third-tier cities.
