China’s EV Industry Ranks First Globally in Sales, Production for 10th Year in a Row

China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry has reached a new milestone, with 2024 marking the 10th year in a row that the country had the best EV production and sales record in the world, said the vice minister for industry and information technology, as Yicai reported.

EV sales in China rose by roughly 40 percent compared with the previous year, reported Euronews. The steep rise was mostly due to government subsidies and incentives provided to EV makers.

According to official data, more than 60 percent of subsidized purchases went toward New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) — those that are powered by alternative energy sources such as battery EVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell EVs, rather than fossil fuels — Asia Financial reported.”

Chinese authorities on Wednesday announced that, as part of a consumer trade-in program to revive economic growth, the subsidies would be extended into 2025.

“We expect the vehicle trade-in subsidy programme to boost full-year 2025 demand by 3 million units,” said Bin Wang, an analyst with Deutsche Bank, as reported by Asia Financial.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) announced on January 13 that China had produced 31.28 million vehicles last year, 12.89 million of which were NEVs, Car News China reported.

CAAM said sales of NEVs were 12.87 million, making China the world’s leader for the past decade. New NEVs made up 40.9 percent of total new vehicle sales, up 9.3 percent from 2023.

Independent auto brands made in China continued to climb last year, with 17.97 million vehicles sold — up 23.1 percent year-on-year, accounting for 65.2 percent of total passenger car sales.

The top three Chinese export brands in 2024 were Chery with 1.14 million vehicles sold, SAIC with 929,000 and Changan with 536,000.

Xu Haidong, CAAM’s executive deputy secretary-general, predicted growth in automobile production and sales to rise to 32.9 million units this year, including 16 million NEVs — an increase of 24.4 percent year-on-year for the small battery-powered vehicles.

The average range of EVs produced in China was close to 500 kilometers in 2024, according to Zhang, as reported by Yicai. Zhang noted that 60 percent of batteries and 70 percent of battery materials for the vehicles were produced domestically.

China has the world’s largest network of charging and battery swap stations, with approximately 12.82 million chargers and 4,443 battery swap locations. They include fast-charging technology that can charge as much as 80 percent of a battery in 15 minutes.

NEV products manufactured in China have been exported to more than 70 countries and regions over the last decade, Zhang said.