China to quadruple new energy vehicle production by 2020: Minister

BEIJING - China will quadruple its new energy vehicle annual output to 2 million by 2020, a cabinet minister said.

Citing a government plan, Industry and Information Technology Minister Miao Wei said at a Beijing forum over the weekend that by 2025, at least one in every five cars sold in China will be a new energy model.

In 2016, China produced 517,000 new energy vehicles. The country has been the world's top seller of such environment-friendly cars since 2015. The cumulative sale has exceeded 1 million, according to the ministry.

New energy vehicles include battery electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and fuel-cell cars.

In 2016, top Chinese electric carmakers BYD, Geely, and BAIC sold their models in more than 30 countries and regions around the world.

Miao said the government will continue to improve policies, boost research and development, invest in charging infrastructure construction, and promote international cooperation to help the sector grow.

In terms of charging infrastructure, China built over 100,000 public charging poles in 2016, ten times the figure in 2015. A comprehensive charging grid has taken shape in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

China witnessed a boom of electric vehicle investment in the past few years largely thanks to government's incentives.

Instead of maintaining a universal incentive system, Miao said, subsidies will vary and favor best performing carmakers before this financial assistance program ends in 2020. By then, a points-based system will be set up to guide the production of new energy vehicles.