During a State Council Information Office press conference on August 26th, focused on the "15th Five-Year Plan" implementation and advancing new industrialization, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin candidly admitted that addressing the question posed to him was not an easy task. He made this remark while responding to inquiries about the new energy vehicle sector, highlighting persistent challenges such as irrational competition and autonomous driving safety concerns.
Mr. Xin provided an overview of the sector's impressive growth during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, noting that annual sales surged from 1.367 million vehicles to 16.49 million vehicles. The share of new energy vehicles in total new car sales also climbed dramatically from 5.4% to 47.9%, solidifying the industry's transition from a million-unit scale to a ten-million-unit scale. He emphasized that the industrial system has become increasingly sophisticated, with technologies in vehicle integration, power batteries, and LiDAR now ranking among the world's best. China's production of new energy vehicles, power batteries, and critical materials accounts for over 70% of global output, making the sector a "bright calling card" for Chinese manufacturing.
However, Mr. Xin cautioned that the industry still faces a series of notable problems and challenges. He pointed to the persistence of irrational competitive practices, where some "radical" design innovations are being applied to vehicles without sufficient experimental validation. He also referenced recent incidents involving product quality and autonomous driving safety that have drawn public attention. He stressed that these issues cannot be ignored or avoided and must be addressed as priorities during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
To tackle these challenges, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicles." The plan aims to promote sustained, high-quality industry development through a combination of planning guidance, inter-departmental coordination, and policy support. Mr. Xin outlined four key areas of focus for the industry's high-quality growth: enhancing product supply quality by supporting key enterprises in technological breakthroughs to improve battery low-temperature adaptability, durability, and autonomous driving safety; optimizing the supporting usage environment through vehicle trade-in programs, new energy vehicle initiatives in rural areas, and pilot projects to fill gaps in county-level charging infrastructure, with the goal of achieving full coverage of charging stations at the county level and charging piles at the township level; improving the industry governance system by advancing reforms in the group-based management of automobile enterprise production qualifications and optimizing industrial layout; and deepening international cooperation by leveraging bilateral and multilateral exchange mechanisms, strengthening coordination in international standard and regulation development, and improving supporting infrastructure for cross-border logistics and investment financing to contribute further to the global automotive industry's transformation.
In response to the issue of irrational competition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly summoned relevant automobile companies in June. They urged these enterprises to strictly comply with laws and regulations, follow the "Guidelines for Compliant Pricing Practices in the Automotive Industry," strengthen price compliance, enhance product quality control, and protect consumer rights to maintain a market order characterized by quality pricing and healthy competition.
On August 21st, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced recalls of multiple new energy vehicle models by nine automakers, including Tesla, Xiaomi, XPeng, Geely, Leapmotor, Chery, Dongfeng, BAIC BluePark, and FAW. The recalls were prompted by safety concerns related to door handles. The issue stems from the fact that the interior emergency mechanical handles closely match the interior color, making them difficult to identify and operate. In extreme situations, such as a severe collision causing the vehicle's low-voltage system to fail, this could impede occupants from quickly opening doors to escape and hinder rescue efforts by people outside the vehicle.
Regarding power batteries, Mr. Xin addressed the anticipated large-scale retirement wave of batteries. He stated that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, relevant administrative regulations will be drafted, and joint departmental law enforcement actions will be carried out to regulate the recycling order. A digital ID management system for power batteries will also be implemented, ensuring traceability of sources and destinations. The goal is to achieve comprehensive utilization of over one million tons of retired power batteries by 2030.