China’s vehicle fleet: almost 44 million ‘green’ cars, but this is only the beginning
China ended 2025 with nearly 44 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) in operation. The country aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport. To achieve government targets, sales of electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrids (PHEVs) must grow at a rapid pace.
China has more new energy vehicles (a term that includes electric vehicles, hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles) on its roads than any other country in the world. However, together they account for only about 12.01% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. Beijing wants this figure to reach 30% within four years, giving an idea of how much work still needs to be done.
Fleet composition and new car registrations
According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, there were 43.97 million NEVs on the country’s roads at the end of 2025. Nearly 69% of them are fully battery-powered. During the year, approximately 34.2 million new cars were registered in China, with about half of them belonging to the NEV category.
Achieving growth from 12% of the fleet to 30% by 2030 is an extremely challenging task, and the market is not helping. New car sales have been declining for several months, and the expiration of some tax incentives is expected to reduce them further.
Advantage of a young fleet
However, the age of cars works in China’s favor. The average age of a car in the country is less than 7 years, so the fleet is refreshed faster than in most other countries, and cleaner vehicles get on the roads more quickly. Each year, a larger share of existing cars is replaced, meaning that electric vehicles are pushing out gasoline cars faster than would happen in a market dominated by older vehicles. For comparison, the average age of a car on American roads has reached 12.8 years, and these cars are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Fighting carbon
China’s ambitions to rapidly increase the number of NEVs on the roads are part of the ’15th Five-Year Plan for Action to Peak Carbon Emissions,’ which aims to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 2030. The plan calls for reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17% compared to 2025 levels. The government is targeting not only passenger cars. It also wants NEVs to account for 25% of commercial transport by 2030.
As CNEVPost notes, this commercial goal largely depends on the spread of heavy trucks across the country — from construction sites to ports and airports, where diesel fuel has long dominated.
The plan goes beyond the vehicles themselves and covers the infrastructure that powers them. It calls for a new wave of charging stations and battery swap stations across the country to cope with the growing number of NEVs.
Thus, while China is already the world leader in the number of electric vehicles, its real challenge lies not in absolute numbers but in market share. The young fleet gives the country a unique advantage for rapid renewal, but economic difficulties and changing regulatory incentives could slow this process. Success will depend not only on sales of new cars but also on the large-scale deployment of charging infrastructure and the transition to ‘green’ technologies in commercial transport, which is a much more difficult task.