In recent years, China has surged ahead in its push towards electric mobility, emerging as the world's largest electric car market, both in terms of sales and the number of electric cars on the roads. In its efforts to combat pollution and reduce its carbon footprint, the Chinese government has implemented a series of policies and incentives to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption, including subsidies, tax breaks and a credit system that requires car makers to meet certain quotas not dissimilar to a carbon credit trading scheme.
China's ambitious infrastructure development, including an extensive network of charging stations, has further accelerated this transition towards new energy vehicles, as electric cars and plug-in hybrids are called in the country. These efforts have enabled domestic EV manufacturers like NIO, BYD, and Xpeng to rapidly scale up their EV production for the home market, which in turn helped them gain a technological edge and realize cost advantages that will give them a chance to take on traditional automakers outside of China.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China more than quadrupled its electric car stock, i.e. the number of registered electric passenger cars, within the past three years, growing its BEV fleet from 2.6 million at the end of 2019 to 11 million at the end of 2022. Last year alone, 4.4 million purely electric cars were sold in the country, which is double the number of all electric cars currently driving around the United States – the second largest market in terms of EV stock.
