China’s Breakneck Pace in New Energy Vehicles

In 2009, when the international electrification wave was just taking off, China had already started to pay attention to the development of new energy vehicles, power batteries and other fields. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China listed new energy vehicles as one of the strategic emerging industries, laying a solid foundation for the rapid development of the industry. Over the past decade or more, adhering to pure electric drive as the direction for the development of new energy vehicles and the transformation of the automotive industry, China has successively issued the Development Plan for the Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry (2012-2020) and the Development Plan for the New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035), clarifying the top-level design, emphasizing technological innovation, breaking through key core technologies, and setting targets for promotion and application. Under the guidance of the national strategy, in 2013, the State Council approved the establishment of an inter-ministerial joint conference system for the development of the energy-saving and new energy vehicle industry, led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and participated in by multiple relevant departments. This strengthened organizational leadership and overall coordination and formed an effective promotion mechanism. The central and local governments worked together to build a comprehensive policy system covering all links such as research and development, production, sales and use, basically forming a management system covering the entire life cycle of vehicles, providing strong support for the development of the new energy vehicle industry.

 

In 2001, China creatively proposed the “three verticals and three horizontals” research and development layout, that is, taking the three vehicle technologies of fuel cell vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles as the “three verticals”, and taking the three key technologies of multi-energy power systems, drive motors and power batteries as the “three horizontals”, which provided a strong “framework” for the development of the new energy vehicle industry. Since then, a series of policies and measures have been successively introduced, and the central and local governments have provided support from multiple angles, fields and approaches. On this basis, the new energy vehicle industry has continuously broken through key core technologies, built an industrial technology innovation system, and established scientific and technological innovation platforms, driving the rapid improvement of the industrial technology level. The rapid development of the new energy vehicle market has effectively promoted technological research and development and the industrial application of achievements, helping enterprises along the entire industrial chain to continuously innovate and breakthrough. Enterprises are the mainstay of innovation. With the continuous increase of enterprises’ investment in research and development, the industrial innovation system has been gradually improved, and the technological innovation ability has been significantly enhanced.

Benefiting from the diversified demand and open and inclusive market, the synchronous promotion of multiple technology routes has provided scenarios and continuous iterative opportunities for the industrialization of new technologies and the realization of large-scale applications and has also greatly stimulated the creative vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of new energy automobile, and the market-driven, coherent and integrated, empowering symbiosis and open and inclusive industrial innovation ecology has taken shape. Independent brand automakers adhere to technology-driven, innovation-driven and market-driven development. Some automakers invest over 10 billion yuan in research and development every year. Traditional automakers are actively transforming towards new energy and intelligent connected vehicles. Enterprises from the Internet, technology and other fields have entered the automotive manufacturing sector across industries. Many new and renowned automakers with both domestic and international influence have emerged. Some internationally renowned automotive enterprises have continuously increased their investment in China, and major foreign-funded parts enterprises have established production and research and development bases, promoting the gradual improvement of China’s supporting industrial chain and the continuous progress of the new energy vehicle industry technology. In addition, the integrated development of electrification, networking and intelligence has driven investment and technological progress in upstream and downstream industries. In key links of the industrial chain such as basic materials, key components, equipment and energy replenishment facilities, several excellent enterprises have emerged.