China to accelerate EV industry integration

The Chinese government will encourage mergers and reorganisations of new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturers to increase industrial concentration in this sector, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

"There are too many NEV enterprises now, and many of them are small and scattered. We should give full play to the role of the market to encourage mergers and acquisitions of NEV enterprises to help them become bigger and stronger, and further improve industrial concentration," said MIIT minister Xiao Yaqing yesterday.

China brought 7mn NEVs on the road as of the end of August, with its yearly production and sales the highest in the world for six consecutive years, Xiao said. The country's total NEV output reached 1.81mn during January-August, up by 192.8pc on the year, with sales moving up by 194pc to 1.8mn units, according to data from the China Automotive Manufacturers Association (CAAM).

"China's NEV industry has achieved technological breakthroughs, established a complete industrial system connecting the upstream and downstream sectors, and made breakthroughs in key technologies such as batteries, motors and electronic controls. However, the driving range, convenience of battery charging, safety and intelligent control of new energy vehicles are crucial considerations for consumers to choose new energy vehicles. We will focus on solving these problems," Xiao added.

China's output of power batteries rose to 111.5GWh during January-August, up by 201pc compared with the same time last year, while installed volumes rose by 176.3pc to 76.3GWh over the same period, CAAM data show.

"China is leading the world in power battery technologies. Compared with 2012, energy density of batteries made in China has increased by 2.2 times, while the manufacturing cost has decreased by about 85pc. The driving range of China's NEVs has been greatly improved, with many vehicle models reaching more than 500km, although there are still some problems in actual operation," Xiao said.

The Chinese central and local governments have been accelerating infrastructure construction to promote the use of NEVs in recent years. Shanghai plans to add 100,000-200,000 of public and private NEV charging piles over the next three years, while the capital city of Beijing is also on track to build at least 50,000 new NEV charging points and around 100 battery exchange stations before the end of 2022. Shanghai will continue to provide free special licence plates to new consumers of electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles in the next two years, in an effort to encourage the use and purchase of environmentally friendly vehicles.

The central government has also vowed to further boost its supply guarantee system for lithium, cobalt, nickel and other key materials, and accelerate development of key battery technologies such as cobalt-free power batteries, solid-state and solid-liquid hybrid lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen fuel batteries.

Beijing has taken a variety of measures to boost NEV consumption in the past year. It has also announced a development plan for the NEV industry during 2021-35, targetting a 20pc share of NEVs in the country's total vehicle sales by 2025.