In 2023, China exported 1.203 million new energy vehicles, an increase of 77.6% over the previous year, and the export destinations covered more than 180 countries in Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa and other regions. Chinese brand new energy vehicles are deeply loved by consumers around the world and rank among the top sales in the new energy vehicle market in many countries, demonstrating the increasing international competitiveness of China's new energy vehicle industry and fully reflecting the comparative advantages of China's industry.

 

The international competitive advantage of China's new energy vehicle industry stems from more than 70 years of hard work and innovative development, thanks to the perfect industrial chain and supply chain system, the advantage of super large market scale and full market competition.

 

Work hard to practice internal skills, accumulate thick and thin. Looking back on the development of China's automobile industry, the construction of the First Automobile Factory in Changchun started in 1953, China's first domestic automobile was assembled and rolled off the assembly line at the Changchun First Automobile Factory in 1956, and it became the world's largest automobile producer and seller for the first time in 2009, with more than 30 million automobile production and sales in 2023. Especially in the past 10 years, China's automobile industry has actively embraced the opportunity of electrification and intelligent transformation, accelerated the transformation to new energy vehicles, and achieved remarkable results in industrial development. China's new energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for 9 consecutive years, more than half of the world's new energy vehicles are driving in China, electrification technology is generally at the world's leading level, new charging, efficient drive, high-voltage charging and other new technologies have made breakthroughs at multiple points, and the application of medium and advanced autonomous driving technology is leading the world.

 

Improve the system and optimize the ecology. China has formed a complete new energy vehicle industry system, including not only the production and supply network of traditional automobile parts, but also the supply system of batteries, electronic control, electric drive systems, electronic products and software for new energy vehicles, as well as supporting systems such as charging and battery replacement, battery recycling, etc. China's new energy vehicle power battery loading volume accounts for more than 60% of the world's total, and 6 power battery companies such as CATL and BYD have entered the top 10 in the global power battery loading volume; The shipment of key materials for power batteries such as cathode, anode, separator, and electrolyte accounted for more than 70% of the world's total; The market size of electric drive and electronic control enterprises such as Fodi Power is leading in the world; A number of software and hardware enterprises that develop and manufacture high-end chips and intelligent driving systems have developed and expanded; China has built more than 9 million charging infrastructures and more than 14,000 power battery recycling companies, ranking first in the world.

 

Equal competition, innovation and iteration. China's new energy vehicle market and growth potential are large, the market competition is sufficient, and consumers are highly receptive to new technologies, which provides a good market environment for the continuous upgrading of new energy vehicle electrification and intelligent technology and the continuous improvement of product competitiveness. In 2023, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China will be 9.587 million and 9.495 million respectively, an increase of 35.8% and 37.9%, respectively, and the sales penetration rate will reach 31.6%, accounting for more than 60% of global sales. China's new energy vehicles are sold in China for about 8.3 million, accounting for more than 85%. China is the world's largest automobile market and the most open automobile market in the world. At the same time, Chinese consumers have a high degree of recognition and demand for electrification and intelligent technology, according to the survey data of the State Information Center, 49.5% of new energy vehicle consumers pay the most attention to the electrification performance such as mileage, battery characteristics and charging time when buying a car, and 90.7% of new energy vehicle consumers say that intelligent functions such as Internet of vehicles and intelligent driving are their car purchase factors.

 

The vigorous development of China's new energy vehicle industry has met the needs of consumers around the world for high-quality products and services, provided strong support for the transformation of the global automotive industry, and made China's contribution and demonstrated China's responsibility to respond to global climate change and promote low-carbon development.

 

Export with high-quality products and gain market trust. According to the Global Electric Vehicle Outlook 2024 released by the International Energy Agency, global demand for electric vehicles is expected to continue to grow strongly over the next decade, reaching 17 million units in 2024. China's new energy vehicle products have provided and will continue to provide global consumers with diversified choices, and with the advantages of electrification and intelligence, they are still popular overseas sales at a higher price than in China. The BYD ATTO3 model was selected as the best electric vehicle of the year in United Kingdom in 2023 by News of United Kingdom, the Geely Geometry E model was loved by Rwandan consumers, and the Great Wall Haval H6 new energy model won the best power award in Brazil. Spain media "Diari de Tarragona" reported that China's new energy vehicles are of high quality, and almost half of Spain will consider buying a Chinese car as their next car.

 

Exchange with advanced technology to achieve a win-win situation in the industry. At the same time, China's new energy vehicles are also welcome to actively integrate into China's new energy vehicle industry chain, injecting strong momentum into the transformation of the global automotive industry. A number of major foreign-funded projects such as Audi FAW, Volkswagen Anhui and Beam Automobile have landed in China, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have set up global R&D centers in China, and more and more multinational automobile companies have accelerated the transformation of electrification and intelligence with the help of China's new energy vehicle industry chain enterprises. The theme of the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show is "New Era, New Vehicles", and global auto companies will bring 278 new energy vehicle products to the show, accounting for more than 80% of the number of new models on display.

 

Promote green development with low-carbon industrial transformation. In 2020, China proposed at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that it should strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. China's commitment to carbon peak and carbon neutrality demonstrates China's determination to tackle climate change and its responsibility as a major country. In recent years, China has unswervingly fulfilled its commitments, accelerated the transformation of its industrial structure, vigorously developed new quality productivity, and achieved leapfrog development in industries such as new energy vehicles, power batteries, and photovoltaics, injecting new hope and making China's contribution to the global green and low-carbon transformation. Automobile carbon emissions account for about 10% of the world's total carbon emissions, and the carbon emissions of new energy vehicles in the whole life cycle are more than 40% lower than those of traditional fuel vehicles. According to the International Energy Agency, to achieve the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, global sales of new energy vehicles need to reach about 45 million units in 2030. As the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China's new energy vehicles continue to develop rapidly, which will provide strong support for global carbon emission reduction and green and low-carbon development.

 

Relying on the comparative advantages of the super-large-scale market and the whole industry chain, China's automobile industry conforms to the trend of automobile electrification and intelligent transformation, adheres to hard work and innovative development, and successfully opens up new fields and new tracks for development, and shapes new development momentum and new advantages. China's new energy vehicles have also achieved leapfrog development from unknown to global leadership, from meeting the needs of domestic high-quality development to helping the global green and low-carbon transformation.

 

Source: Political Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission