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EVs and PHEVs outsell gas cars in China for the first time

EVs and PHEVs made up a record half of car sales in China in July, the first time this milestone was achieved in the world’s largest auto market.

Sales of EVs and PHEVs – what China calls new energy vehicles (NEVs) – jumped 37% year-over-year in July, achieving a record 50.7% of car sales, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (via Reuters). That’s a rise of 28.6% from June, with a 14.4% jump in EVs.

The rapid growth in China has been astounding – three years ago, NEV sales accounted for just 7% of total vehicle sales – and government incentives are making a big impact.

China saw a total of 1.73 million passenger cars (including gas) sold in July 2024 – a 3.1% decrease year-over-year. So in order to boost car sales, in late July, the Chinese government doubled cash incentives for EVs to 20,000 yuan ($2,785) and made them retroactive to April, when they were first announced.

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Plus, NEVs are exempt from sales tax up to 30,000 yuan ($4,175) in 2024 and 2025. There’s also the government scrappage scheme, which provides consumers who replace their gas cars with NEVs with 20,000 yuan ($2,540).

Top comment by Larry Evans

Liked by 8 people

This article seems to be double-counting a bit. The 20,000 RMB scrappage incentive is the same as the 20,000 RMB cash incentive. They are not two seperate things.

Also, the purchase tax exemption is a 10% tax exemption. You only get $4000 if you buy a $40k car.

So a $10k Seagull would get $1000 in purchase tax exemption. If they scrapped an existing gasoline car, they would have that additional $2,787.50. But not everybody has a car worth less than $2700 to scrap.

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Some cities are also relaxing car purchase restrictions. Beijing announced in July that it would expand its NEV license quota by 20,000, the first time it’s done so since the capital city launched its strict car quota in 2011 to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion.

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Avatar for Michelle Lewis Michelle Lewis

Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in White River Junction, Vermont. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at michelle@9to5mac.com. Check out her personal blog.