A WM EX5 catches visitors' attention at a new energy car expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Lian Guoqing/For China Daily]
Orders for first eight months of 2019 still up on previous year
Sales of new energy vehicles experienced an even greater fall in August, after recording reduced sales in July, the first sales drop for NEVs in more than two years. However, industry insiders remain confident of the upward trajectory in the NEV market.
China sold 85,000 NEVs last month, a drop of 15.8 percent from the previous year. While in July, the sales volume was 80,000, a decrease of 4.7 percent year-on-year.
In August, 69,000 NEVs sold were fully electric vehicles, a decrease of 6 percent on the previous year, and 16,000 were plug-in hybrids, dropping 41.3 percent year-on-year.
However, the overall sales volume of China's NEV market in the first eight months of 2019 has still grown.
Statistics show that 793,000 NEVs were sold from January to August in 2019, an increase of 32 percent from the same period last year. Of which, 629,000 electric vehicles were sold in the first eight months of this year, up 40.8 percent on the same period in 2018.
"The sales fall in the Chinese new energy market in July and August is mostly due to the scaling down of government subsidies, which will not alter the course of the whole industry," said John Zeng, managing director of LMC Automotive Shanghai.
From the perspective of not only environmental protection, but also industrial development, developing new energy vehicles is agreed by the industry to be the future of mobility, he added.
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A new MG ZS electric SUV is displayed at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai last week. [Photo by Zhou Dongchao/For China Daily]
Zeng's estimate of the NEV industry is supported by leading carmakers and battery manufacturers, and the increase of electric charging piles nationwide.
Data released by the China Passenger Car Association reveal that popular models from BAIC, BYD and Geely sold well in August.
BAIC BJEV, BAIC Group's electric vehicle subsidiary, sold 10,000 vehicles of its EU series last month, soaring 234.7 percent on the last year.
BYD sold 4,127 Yuan EV models and 1,867 e5 models in August, up by 3.2 percent and 50.9 percent year-on-year respectively.
A total of 2,330 Emgrand EV models were sold by Geely last month, an increase of 49.9 percent year-on-year.
Based on the sales volume in August, traditional carmakers are gaining increasingly prominent advantages in developing new energy products, automotive portal Gasgoo reported.
In terms of battery manufacturing, there have also emerged a raft of powerhouses, which include the Contemporary Amperex Technology, also known as CATL, BYD and Hefei Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy.
According to the China Automotive Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, the CATL installed a total of 2.31 gigawatt-hours of batteries in August, ranking first among all the battery manufacturers in the country, followed by BYD with 0.32 GWh, and Hefei Guoxuan with 0.16 GWh.
From January to August, a total of 38.2 GWh of batteries were installed, up by 65.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the innovation alliance.
Electric charging infrastructure is keeping pace with industry, with the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance reporting that by the end of August, there were 1.08 million charging piles operating across the country, an increase of 67.8 percent from last year.
Among the 1.08 million charging piles, 456,000 are public ones, growing 63.5 percent year-on-year.
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