China's 15th Five-Year Plan for smart NEVs sets 2030 goals: 70% of new passenger cars to be new energy

China has released its 15th five-year development plan for the intelligent connected NEV sector, a document dated September 9 and jointly issued by nine government bodies including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the NDRC and the transport ministry. Its headline targets call for new energy vehicles to reach 70% of domestic new passenger-car sales and 40% of new commercial-vehicle sales by 2030, with autonomous vehicles deployed at scale.

Autonomous driving is a central pillar. The plan envisions highly automated driving on highways, urban expressways and selected city roads by 2030, and expects such systems to be markedly safer than human drivers. Demonstration programs will span autonomous passenger cars, buses, long-haul trucking and urban delivery, while key first- and second-tier cities and some national highways get upgraded for vehicle-road-cloud integration.

The plan also tightens industrial discipline: stricter monitoring of vehicle and battery capacity, tough conditions for setting up new standalone NEV manufacturers, and promotion of mergers and restructuring to retire inefficient plants. It vows stronger antitrust, unfair-competition and pricing enforcement, plus an end to unauthorized local subsidies, tax breaks and land incentives used to lure investment.

On technology, it flags automotive chips, operating systems, industrial software and critical basic materials as gap areas, alongside further work on battery safety, charging speeds and low-temperature performance. Efficiency targets call for about 11.5 kWh per 100 km for battery-electric passenger cars and 3.3 liters per 100 km for passenger cars by 2030, and an "AI+Automotive" initiative will push AI into energy management, motion control and predictive fault detection. Beijing also wants several domestic automakers among the global top 10 by sales and will keep tax incentives, trade-in support and rural promotion in place to sustain demand.