China unveils plan for new energy vehicle industry

BEIJING - China, on Monday, unveiled a development plan for its new energy vehicle (NEV) industry from 2021-2035 that aims to accelerate the country into an automotive powerhouse.

The plan, released by the State Council, China's cabinet, listed five strategic tasks -- to improve technology innovation capacity, build new-type industry ecosystems, advance industrial integration and development, perfect the infrastructure system, and deepen opening-up and cooperation.

The specific targets include bringing the average power consumption of new, purely electric passenger cars down to 12 kWh/100 km and raising the proportion of new NEVs in the sales of new vehicles to 20 percent by 2025.

By 2035, purely electric automobiles are likely to become the mainstream in the sales of new ones, while those used in public transportation will be exclusively electrified, according to the plan.

Boasting the world's most sizable inventory of NEVs, China accounts for 55 percent of global NEV sales.