China's NEV pioneer looks to the future

BEIJING — In Wan Gang's Beijing office, three objects present a compact history of China's rise in electric vehicles.

One is a kerosene lamp, a reminder of his youth spent in rural Jilin province, where he often read by its light.

Another is the Nicolaus August Otto Award, presented to him in 2023 by German engine maker Deutz in recognition of his pioneering work, including contributions to EVs and hydrogen technology. The prize is named after the inventor of the four-stroke engine.

The third is a transparent bottle holding a miniature scene of Christopher Columbus' voyage — a symbol, he told Xinhua, of exploring an unfamiliar frontier.

Wan, 74, is honorary president of the China Association for Science and Technology and former minister of science and technology. He was chief scientist of the major EV project under the National High-tech R&D Program, or the 863 Program, a national initiative launched in 1986 to advance China's capabilities in strategic high-tech fields.

In a wide-ranging interview with Xinhua News Agency, Wan looked back at why China chose the EV path and set out his views on what comes next — from competition at home and new battery technologies to the overseas development of Chinese automakers.

The interview comes as China's auto transition reaches another milestone. New energy vehicles — China's official category covering pure EVs, plug-in hybrid EVs and fuel-cell vehicles — accounted for 60.4 percent of all new vehicle sales in July. NEV sales reached 9.007 million in the first seven months of 2026, up 9.6 percent year-on-year.

Globally, China produced nearly three-quarters of the world's electric cars in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. BloombergNEF estimated that China accounted for 63 percent of electric cars sold worldwide that year.

Wan's assessment is measured: China has reached the global forefront in NEVs, he said, but "there is still much to do".

Wan traced China's EV strategy to three practical concerns at the turn of the century: rising dependence on imported oil as car ownership grew, worsening air pollution and the risk that Chinese manufacturers would remain dependent on foreign core technologies if they continued to follow the established internalcombustion route.

EV and hybrid technologies were still in their early stages globally, leaving more room for competition. China also chose a diversified approach rather than relying on a single technology.

The 863 Program's EV project pursued pure electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles in parallel, while also supporting research on batteries, motors and electronic controls.

That strategy was followed by years of research, demonstration projects, infrastructure development and market building.

As purchase subsidies were gradually phased out, the industry entered fully market-oriented competition.

The economics have changed markedly. The IEA estimates that, even before government incentives, nearly 70 percent of battery-electric cars sold in China in 2025 were cheaper than their internal-combustion equivalents.

China also accounted for more than 80 percent of global batterycell production, while battery-pack prices were around 30 percent lower than in North America and 35 percent lower than in Europe.

Recent 2026 analyses pointed to several drivers behind that cost advantage.

McKinsey said some Chinese companies have achieved battery-pack cost advantages of 25 to 40 percent through simplified architectures, lower-cost chemistries such as LFP and component optimization. CSIS highlights how private firms and technology-focused entrants have intensified competition and experimentation in manufacturing, software, battery management and autonomy.

This influence is spreading beyond China.

BloombergNEF said EV demand in emerging markets, including Southeast Asia and Latin America, is growing rapidly. In Thailand, EVs accounted for 27 percent of new car sales in 2025, with Chinese brands making up 88 percent of EVs sold.

China's EV deployment is also reducing oil use. The IEA estimates that the global EV fleet displaced about 1.7 million barrels of oil demand a day in 2025, with China accounting for roughly 1 million barrels a day.

China's role in the global EV transition is therefore no longer only about production volumes. Its scale has helped expand the supply of affordable EVs and lower some of the cost barriers to electrification.

Rapid growth has also brought new challenges.

Wan pointed to anxiety as one factor behind the "involution-style" competition in China's auto industry.

The sales of all automobiles in China expanded from about 26 million units in 2021 to 34 million units in 2025, with NEVs contributing a big portion of the growth. Companies rushed toward a fast-growing market, while traditional automakers had to maintain conventional vehicle businesses and compete in NEVs at the same time. Wan said this anxiety sometimes has escalated into irrational competition.

His prescription is practical: know the customer, focus on clearer market segments and improve after-sales service.

What automakers learn from existing owners, he argued, should feed directly into the next generation of products.

The need for that shift is becoming clearer. The profit margin of China's vehicle manufacturing sector fell to 1.5 percent in the first five months of 2026.

The authorities have also stepped up efforts to regulate disorderly price competition and encourage companies to compete more through quality, technology and value.

Wan also rejects the characterization that China simply has too much auto capacity.

He pointed to vehicle ownership of a little over 260 cars per 1,000 people — far below levels in major developed markets — and to room for demand to grow at home and overseas.