Research Brief

Leading new energy vehicle cities in China: The 2022 market

This study explores China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) market in 2022, revealing a continued upward trajectory with sales reaching 6.8 million units, nearly double the previous year’s figure. The growth is primarily attributed to the passenger car segment, which accounted for the vast majority of NEV registrations. In 2022, the 30 cities with the highest NEV deployment were responsible for 58% of all registrations in China, down 4 percentage points from 2021 and 11 percentage points from 2020. Our findings indicate a notable shift in market dynamics, with smaller cities increasing their share of NEV sales, largely driven by national initiatives like the NEVs to the Countryside program and localized promotional efforts.

 

Figure 1. Annual registrations of new energy vehicles in China from 2013 to 2022 by vehicle category (top) and by technology (bottom).

 

Figure 2. New energy passenger car and commercial vehicle registrations in Chinese cities, 2022.

Zero-emission vehicles
China