Recently, according to statistics and analysis from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China continued to reach new highs from January to November 2021, with a cumulative output of over 3 million vehicles and sales approaching 3 million vehicles. In November, the penetration rate of the new energy vehicle market was 17.8%, continuing to be higher than last month, with the penetration rate of the new energy passenger vehicle market reaching 19.5%. In the new stage of booming development of new energy vehicles, it is necessary to recognize the significant significance and future vision of industrial development.
Highly understanding the significant significance of the development of China’s new energy vehicle industry
From the perspective of the automotive industry, the development of new energy vehicles has taken China a big step towards becoming an automotive powerhouse. At the beginning of the 21st century, China creatively combined the development of new energy vehicles with enhancing industrial competitiveness, ensuring energy security, improving air quality, and addressing climate change during an important period of transformation in the automotive industry. Starting from the “Ten Cities, Thousand Vehicles” project, China’s new energy vehicle development has gone through more than a decade and achieved remarkable results. In terms of market size, China has become the world’s largest electric vehicle market, with cumulative sales of electric passenger vehicles accounting for 45% of the world’s total, and sales of electric buses and electric trucks accounting for over 90% of the world’s total; The number of public charging stations that have been built exceeds the sum of the United States, Europe, and Japan; Having leading mass-produced power battery technology, it is the region with the most active innovation in electric transportation business models worldwide. In the process of global automobile electrification, China has taken the first step and achieved a first mover effect, greatly enhancing the confidence of enterprises and the public.
From the perspective of innovation strategy, due to the integration of a large number of technologies outside of automobiles, the automotive revolution has driven an unprecedented technological innovation movement in the history of China’s industrial development. As a symbol of the national industrial system, automobiles are an important scenario for the application of new technologies. The electrification of automobiles integrates advanced material research and application with high-precision and cutting-edge component manufacturing, and promotes the upgrading of battery, motor, and electronic control technology. Automobiles are one of the most important application scenarios for the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence, 5G, the Internet of Things, and more. A large number of technologies outside of automobiles are applied to automobiles, which not only achieves the intelligent development of automobiles, but also becomes the application stage for a large number of cross-border technologies. Automobiles have become an important force driving other industries to accelerate innovation.
From the perspective of energy strategy, the automotive revolution has effectively promoted the energy revolution. Now China is facing the third energy revolution of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. It is expected that by 2035, wind and solar power will account for over 80% of installed capacity and over 40% of power generation, and the cost of photovoltaic and wind power can be reduced to 0.1-0.2 yuan/kilowatt hour. The current problem facing the new energy revolution is that the generation cost of photovoltaic and wind power is low, but the utilization cost is still high, with energy storage being the main bottleneck. The estimated number of electric vehicles in 2030 is over 80 million, with a potential energy storage capacity of 5800 GWh. The new energy vehicles composed of electrochemical energy power systems are an important energy storage support for the development of renewable energy. The ongoing automotive revolution is greatly promoting energy transformation and revolution with the super large scale energy storage capacity it provides.
From the perspective of the dual carbon strategy, developing new energy vehicles can help achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality ahead of schedule. With the increase in the proportion of renewable energy generation, the carbon emissions per unit mileage of pure electric passenger vehicles will decrease to 20g/km by 2035, a decrease of over 70% compared to 2021. By 2035, new energy vehicles will achieve a carbon reduction of about 200 million tons in the field of road transportation, with significant carbon reduction benefits.
Important Experience in the Development of China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry
Respect the laws of technological innovation and handle the relationship between multiple technological routes well. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, after analyzing the development trends of various technological routes, long-term energy-saving and emission reduction benefits, and considering how to cultivate competitive advantages, China gradually clarified its “pure electric drive” technology transformation strategy and deepened its “three vertical and three horizontal” research and development layout. In the later stage of the 13th Five Year Plan, China firmly grasped the trend of automotive intelligence and focused on strategic deployment in the direction of intelligent electric vehicles.
Respect the spirit of corporate innovation and handle the relationship between traditional cars and new forces in car manufacturing. China has broken through traditional policy and institutional barriers in the automotive industry and gradually established an industrial policy system that is conducive to technological progress and enterprise innovation. Especially in the early stages of electrification development, allowing “cross-border car manufacturing” fully absorbs wisdom from outside the industry and further stimulates industry vitality. At the same time, through a series of policy incentives and constraints, traditional automobile companies have been promoted to transform towards electrification. Some large automobile companies, especially some state-owned large automobile enterprises, have continuously increased their investment in the field of new energy vehicles, promoting the overall upgrading of the national automobile industry.
Follow the development laws of emerging industries and handle the relationship between the government and the market well. In the early stages of the development of the new energy vehicle industry, there were problems with immature products and technologies, as well as unsynchronized infrastructure, and consumers did not have sufficient understanding of the products. Demonstration pilot projects, government subsidies, and public fleet procurement have become the three driving forces for the rise of market size. With the gradual formation of the new energy vehicle market, China has not always let the industry lie on a policy bed, but has quickly shifted to regulatory standards guided by energy conservation and emission reduction, and dual credit policies guided by market incentives. Policy driven and market mechanisms continue to stimulate industrial vitality, providing valuable reference for the structural reform of other emerging industries.
Adhere to multi departmental collaboration and handle collaborative management issues in the process of industrial development. New energy vehicles have brought about changes in the industry and management scope. China has formed a targeted horizontal and vertical management mechanism, with various departments working together at multiple levels such as industry, technology, finance and taxation, infrastructure, transportation, and energy, playing a relay role. Multi departmental collaboration promotes macro strategy formulation and top-level design, and solves major problems and bottlenecks in the development process through inter ministerial joint meetings and other systems; Each department formulates departmental plans and supporting policy measures based on functional division of labor, emphasizing coordination with related department goals; Local governments actively implement and form strong support in promoting applications and industrial investment.
Embrace global competition with an open attitude and balance independent innovation and open innovation. The potential of China’s new energy vehicle industry market and the gradual lifting of restrictions on foreign equity ratios have sparked a wave of global new energy vehicle and component companies investing in China. By 2025, global investment in the new energy vehicle industry is expected to be around 300 billion US dollars, of which 45% will flow to China. The continuous improvement of opening up to the outside world will further enrich the selection of new energy vehicle products in China, and also demonstrate the Chinese government’s confidence in local technological strength.
