New energy vehicle share of vehicle sales in China by year

Facts checked Newest figure published 22 January 2026

The series

Figures in percent, one row per year.
Year percent Relative size Note
2015 1.3 331,092 NEVs of about 24,600,000 vehicles sold; the denominator is China Daily's rounding of CAAM's 2015 total, which does not move the share at this precision.
2016 1.8 507,000 NEVs of 28,028,000 vehicles sold.
2017 2.7 777,000 of 28,879,000. CAAM itself published the share as 2.7%.
2018 4.5 1,256,000 of 28,081,000.
2019 4.7 1,206,000 of about 25,770,000; the denominator is Xinhua's rounding of CAAM's 2019 total, so this value is good to about a tenth of a point.
2020 5.4 1,367,000 of 25,311,000.
2021 13.4 3,521,000 of 26,275,000.
2022 25.6 6,887,000 of 26,864,000.
2023 31.6 9,495,000 of 30,094,000; the share CAAM reported for 2023 was 31.6%.
2024 40.9 12,866,000 of 31,436,000; the share CAAM reported for 2024 was 40.9%. CAAM's domestic-only share for the same year was 45.3%.
2025 47.9 16,490,000 of 34,400,000; CnEVPost reports the same 47.9% from CAAM's release. On domestic sales alone the share passed 50% for the first time.

Reading these figures

Two published series for the same year often disagree, and the reason is almost always the definition rather than an error: wholesale shipments are not retail registrations, passenger cars are not all vehicles, and what counts as a new-energy vehicle differs between publishers. The definition above is the one that applies to every number on this page.

Related

Sources for New energy vehicle share of vehicle sales in China by year

  1. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 2025年12月新能源汽车产销情况简析 (Brief analysis of NEV production and sales, December 2025). Read . Published 2026-01-22. 2025 NEV sales 16.49 million; states that new energy vehicles were more than 50% of domestic new-vehicle sales in December.
  2. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 2025年12月汽车工业产销情况简析 (Brief analysis of vehicle production and sales, December 2025). Read . Published 2026-01-22. Denominator for 2025: total sales 34.40 million, domestic sales 27.302 million.
  3. CnEVPost, China NEV sales total 1.71 million units in Dec, bringing full-year 2025 sales to 16.49 million. Read . Published 2026-01-14. States NEVs were 47.9% of China's total vehicle sales in 2025.
  4. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 2024年12月信息发布会 (December 2024 information conference slide deck). Read . Published 2025-01-13. 2024 NEV sales 12.866 million, total sales 31.436 million, domestic NEV sales 11.582 million and a stated domestic NEV share of 45.3%.
  5. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), Sales of New Energy Vehicles in December 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020. Read . CAAM's monthly NEV sales tables; the December issue of each year carries the Jan–Dec total used as the numerator for 2020 (136.7), 2021 (352.1), 2022 (688.7) and 2023 (949.5), in units of 10,000 vehicles.
  6. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), Sales of Automobiles in December 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020. Read . CAAM's monthly total vehicle sales tables; the December issue of each year carries the Jan–Dec denominator used for 2020 (2,531.1), 2021 (2,627.5), 2022 (2,686.4) and 2023 (3,009.4), in units of 10,000 vehicles.
  7. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), NEV enjoyed strong development. Read . Published 2018-01-23. 2017 NEV sales 777,000 and a stated NEV market share of 2.7%.
  8. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), NEVs enjoyed high-speed growth yearly (2018) and The growth of automobiles below expectations (2018). Read . CAAM's annual review of 2018: NEV sales 1,256,000 against total sales 28,081,000 (the latter in the companion article, id 1258).
  9. InsideEVs, Chinese NEVs Market Slightly Declined In 2019: Full Report. Read . CAAM's 2019 NEV sales of 1,206,000, the numerator for 2019.
  10. Xinhua, China's auto sales down 8.2 pct in 2019. Read . CAAM's 2019 total sales of about 25.77 million, the denominator for 2019.
  11. Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA), The Chinese Automotive Market – Much more than just large. Read . CAAM's 2016 total sales of 28,028,000, the denominator for 2016.
  12. D1EV, 中汽协：2016年新能源汽车产销量均超50万辆，同比增速约50%. Read . CAAM's 2016 NEV sales of 507,000, the numerator for 2016.
  13. China Daily, Auto sales hit record in 2015, but growth slows down. Read . CAAM's 2015 total sales of 24.6 million, the denominator for 2015.
  14. Wikipedia, Plug-in electric vehicles in China. Read . Finding aid for CAAM's 2015 NEV sales of 331,092, the numerator for 2015, cited there to CAAM's release of 20 January 2016.