China to target quarter of vehicle sales to be electric by 2025

BEIJING: China should adopt a plan that will see electric vehicles make up a quarter of all autos sold in the country in six years' time, the industry ministry said Tuesday (Dec 3), as the sector struggles with falling sales.

A draft blueprint for the development of the "new energy vehicle" sector – which includes hybrids and fully-electric vehicles – comes after the government withdrew subsidies for carmakers earlier this year.

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China is the world's largest new energy vehicle market, but sales of electric motors plummeted 34 per cent on-year in September, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

READ: China's electric vehicle market to see sales rebound next year, executives say

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's draft proposal said China should seek to ensure one in four of all vehicles sold in 2025 were either hybrids or fully-electric vehicles.

The measures are partly to ensure the country meets its air pollution targets, and to reduce Beijing's dependence on imported oil.

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China would also continue to develop electric vehicle battery technologies, improve infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and driverless cars, it said.

The draft proposal, which includes guidelines for the development of the new energy vehicle sector from 2021 to 2035, is open for public feedback until Dec 9.

A previous state target set in 2017 had called for 20 per cent of cars sold to be electric vehicles by 2020, but the draft released Tuesday gave no indication whether CRead More – Source