Rate of New Energy Commercial Vehicles in China to Increase Rapidly

A report, jointly released on July 19 by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co., Ltd. (CAERI) and other two institutions, indicates that during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period, the penetration rate of new energy commercial vehicles is expected to increase rapidly, while the business volume of used cars also stands to increase.

According to the report, China’s business-used vehicle market entered an adjustment stage during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and market fluctuations will promote a cull among enterprises, thus boosting the high-quality development of the industry. It is predicted that by the end of this period, the sales volume of domestic business-used vehicles will return to pre-pandemic levels, with a total volume stabilizing at about 4.5 million units.

Against this background, the report predicts that China’s penetration rate of business-used vehicles will increase quickly. In 2021, the domestic new energy vehicle market developed rapidly, with the annual sales volume exceeding 3.5 million units, reaching a yearly increase of over 157%. Specifically, the sales volume of commercial vehicles was 168,000, up 49.4% year-on-year.

The report also shows that user groups and their demands of business-used vehicles are quite different. So, policies such as right of transportation participants and environmental protection requirements will play an important role in the market for a long time into the future. Under China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the reduction of business-used vehicles’ emissions has become a focus of the industry. Some related achievements have already been made in the business-used vehicles and buses sectors. In the future, the promotion of trucks’ adoption of new energy will be strengthened, while special fields’ adoption of new energy will become development focuses, as well as urban sanitation and logistics.

In addition, the report pointed out that during this period, the business volume of used cars in China is expected to increase. In 2021, the industry’s trading volume was 17.585 million, up 22.6% year-on-year.

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During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the development of business-used vehicles will be characterized by lightweight technology, digitalization and intelligence. Autonomous driving distribution cars will develop quickly in the next five years. By 2025, the number of distribution cars in China is expected to reach 60,000.