China's meteoric rise in new-energy vehicles(NEVs)could be attributed to the country's right strategy,rapid deployment and a willingness to listen and learn from international peers,the head of an international automotive engineering body told Global Times at the ongoing 2025 World New Energy Vehicle Congress(WNEVC).
"The industrial strategy deployment has been key to the rise of the Chinese automotive industry,it is the fundamental element of the growth of the Chinese NEV industry,"Chris Mason,CEO of FISITA,an international network for automotive engineers,told Global Times in an interview on Sunday.
Also,the pace with which things evolve in China has played a role which will continue to gather apace from the automotive itself to mobility systems,said Mason,an industry veteran with decades of experience and witnessed China's NEV rise firsthand."As a European citizen,I am frankly impressed with the growth pace in China."
Mason added that the Chinese industry's willingness to listen and learn from peers also played a part,saying that"over the past decade engineers and engineering leaders have been coming out of China and looking to develop relationships with global peers to share and to learn in equal measure."
Mason said artificial intelligence(AI)is a game changer in human history like the internet,and with China's Internet Plus Initiative,the Chinese automotive industry stands a good chance to take the global leadership though he highlighted the value of international collaboration in AI.
China plays a vital role in global green development,according to a report from the International Energy Agency(IEA)released in May.
Global electric car sales surpassed 17 million units in 2024,accounting for over 20 percent of total vehicle sales.EV sales continued to set records worldwide,particularly in China and other emerging economies.The IEA noted that the 11 million electric cars sold in China in 2024 alone exceeded global sales of the previous two years combined.
The report predicted that the deployment of EVs will replace the use of more than 5 million barrels of oil each day globally in 2030,with half of that reduction coming from China.
In the first half of 2025,NEV sales in China reached 6.94 million units with a market penetration rate of 44.3 percent,Wan Gang,president of the China Association for Science and Technology and president of the WNEVC,said in a keynote speech at the 2025 WNEVC on Saturday.
Of the accumulated NEV sales of 70 million units in the world,45 million are sold in China,said Wan,a former minister of science and technology and one of the chief architects of China's NEV development plan.
Equally worthy to note is that China has built up the world's largest renewable energy system during the same time frame,and now 40 percent of the country's power comes from green and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
However,China's NEV rise is not a sudden or easy success,but rather came from decades of planning and implementation.
According to Wan,China's NEV plan began as earlier as 2001 and the first batch of NEV cars entered the market after 10 years of research and development.The country's NEV penetration rate reached just 1 percent in 2015 and 5.4 percent in 2020,and it is due to meticulous long-term planning that the Chinese NEV sector has reached its current high.
With a theme of"Industrial Transformation and Sustainable Development,"the 2025 WNEVC runs from September 27 to 29 in Haikou,capital of South China's Hainan Province.
As one of its key missions,the WNEVC promotes development of NEV with the goal of pushing up NEV market share to 50 percent globally by 2035.The World New Energy Vehicle Development Organization was launched on Saturday to promote the green and smart transition of the automotive industry and sustainable development.
Officials attending the WNEVC also revealed more supportive measures to the sector.
Efforts will be accelerated to achieve advancement in high-end chips for vehicles,operating systems,large-language models,and next-generation batteries,enhancing the endogenous driving force for industrial development of the NEV sector,said Xiong Jijun,Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology,highlighting that further support will be provided for technological breakthroughs at the 2025 World New Energy Vehicle Conference on Saturday.
Market consumption will be further expanded through the implementation of a new round of work plans to stabilize industry growth.These include optimizing tax incentives for NEVs,and implementing initiatives such as the promotion of NEVs in rural areas,and pilot programs to address shortcomings in charging infrastructure,Xiong said.
