- By 2030, 70% of sold passenger cars should be new-energy vehicles.
- For commercial vehicles, the target is 40%.
- The plan was signed by nine ministries and agencies.
- It also includes highly automated driving on highways.
China has released a five-year plan for the development of the intelligent connected vehicles sector with new powertrains for 2026 to 2030. It was signed by nine ministries and agencies led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In addition to sales shares, it also addresses autonomous driving, energy consumption, charging infrastructure, and the consolidation of domestic automakers. The figure most often cited is 70 %, but as you’ll see in a moment, that’s the less ambitious part of the entire document.
Seventy percent that China is almost at
The plan sets out that by 2030, new-powertrain vehicles should account for 70 % of passenger car sales and 40 % of commercial vehicle sales. The term “new powertrain” in China includes not only pure electric vehicles, but also plug-in hybrids and vehicles with a range extender, so it’s not seventy percent battery-only cars.
And here’s the catch. According to data from the CPCA association, as reported by CnEVPost, the monthly share of these vehicles in retail sales of passenger cars in July 2026 hit a record 65.1 %, up 11.6 percentage points year over year. So the 2030 target is less than five points away. The real challenge is commercial vehicles, where electrification is much slower.
Driverless cars should be demonstrably safer
The second half of the plan is about autonomous driving and is more specific than is usually the case. By 2030, highly automated driving should be commonly available on highways, urban expressways, and in selected city roads. The document also states that vehicles with such systems must be significantly safer than human drivers. Not comparable, but measurably better.
The plan assumes rollout of operations in four areas at once: autonomous passenger cars, buses, long-distance freight transport, and city delivery. Vehicle approvals and entry onto roads are meant to proceed gradually and in a controlled manner. Alongside this, road infrastructure in first- and second-tier cities is to be digitalized and connected, as well as in selected sections of national roads.
Energy consumption, charging, and the reverse flow of electricity
The plan also pushes for efficiency. The average energy consumption of pure battery cars should fall to around 11.5 kWh per 100 kilometers by 2030, and the average fuel consumption of new passenger cars to 3.3 liters per 100 kilometers. At the same time, the network of high-power chargers should be expanded, charging availability in rural areas should be improved, and bidirectional energy exchange between the vehicle and the grid should be deployed on a wider scale.
A separate section focuses on order in the industry. China openly counts on the merging of automakers and on restructuring; the goal is to get multiple domestic brands into the global top ten by sales and suppliers into the global top one hundred. Industry labor productivity should rise by 15% compared to 2025.
What does that mean for us
The plan also considers exports. It promises support for business and investment partnerships, joint overseas spare-parts warehouses used by multiple brands, pilot cross-border data-flow projects, and equal treatment of domestic and foreign companies in public procurement. Spare-parts warehouses are the detail that interests a European buyer more than you might think. Service tends to be the weaker spot for Chinese brands.
The contrast with our market is huge. Battery electric vehicles accounted for, in Slovakia, in the first five months of the year 2026 roughly 5,8 % of new registrations, in the Czech Republic 6,4 %, and in Poland 5,9 %. The Chinese figure also includes plug-in hybrids, so it’s not a direct comparison, but a difference of dozens of percentage points can’t be explained away. If China fulfills its plan, in a few years it will be producing cars for a market that works completely differently from ours.
| - | Five-Year Plan for New Energy Vehicles |
|---|---|
| Validity | 2026 – 2030 |
| Authors | nine ministries and agencies led by MIIT |
| Passenger cars | 70 % sales share by 2030 |
| Commercial vehicles | 40 % sales share by 2030 |
| Autonomous driving | highways / urban expressways / selected city streets |
| Labor productivity | 15 % higher than in 2025 |
| Target for manufacturers | several brands in the global top ten by sales |
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