NEV sector surging full steam ahead

A view of an assembly line of smart vehicles in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. HU XIAOFEI/FOR CHINA DAILY

China has doubled down on steering the new energy vehicle industry away from cutthroat competition toward technology-led growth, with three high-level industrial meetings this week all stressing core innovation, particularly on autonomous driving and next-generation battery technologies.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation held a roundtable meeting with 17 major automakers to rein in unbridled competition on Tuesday.

The three authorities said that the country will uphold innovation and quality as market priorities and warned that regulatory enforcement, cost and price monitoring, and product consistency checks would be strengthened. Violations, they said, would be strictly dealt with under the law.

The day before, two earlier sessions convened by the MIIT underscored China's strategic goal of driving breakthroughs in high-end automotive technology and all-solid-state batteries.

On Monday, MIIT Minister Li Lecheng chaired a manufacturing enterprise symposium, bringing together executives from 12 companies across sectors including automobiles, steel, nonferrous metals, machinery and electronics.

Participants were urged to take an active role in setting industry rules and building self-discipline mechanisms, while consciously resisting price wars to foster win-win outcomes and a healthier business environment.

Later the same day, Li also presided over the 2026 annual meeting of the interministerial joint conference on energy-saving and NEV industry development.

At that meeting, officials said 2026 would be a critical window for the intelligent and connected NEV industry. Authorities outlined a broad policy agenda, including drafting a new development plan for intelligent NEVs, accelerating breakthroughs in key technologies such as all-solid-state batteries and advanced autonomous driving, expanding auto consumption through trade-in schemes and scaling up the use of electric heavy trucks.

Ji Xuehong, director of an automotive industry innovation research center at North China University of Technology, said: "The policy signals of three high-level industrial meetings in two days are clear. The next phase of development for intelligent and connected new energy vehicles will hinge on innovation rather than price competition. The industry is entering a period of opportunity in areas such as advanced materials, industrial software, autonomous driving and solid-state batteries, while the electrification of heavy-duty trucks and the globalization of China's NEV supply chain are also set to gather pace in the years to come."

The move also comes as China has summoned the country's biggest battery, power and energy storage companies, including CATL, BYD and Gotion, as well as system integrators like Trina Solar, to a closed-door meeting with four top regulators.

According to the latest data from South Korean market consultancy SNE Research, six Chinese companies ranked among the world's top 10 by installed power battery capacity from January to November last year. Together, they accounted for 69.4 percent of global market share, up more than 3 percentage points year-on-year.

In terms of all-solid-state batteries, a type of power batteries used in electric vehicles, Ouyang Minggao, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Tsinghua University, said China is progressing "faster than expected" in the research and industrialization of all-solid-state batteries this year, thanks to more government support.

"The gap between China and leading countries in all-solid-state batteries has narrowed sharply, and China has been ahead in some areas. The next two to three years will be critical for China to choose industrial routes and move laboratory results into production, with the goal of achieving commercialization by 2030," Ouyang said.