New energy car registration in China up nearly 60 pct in 2021

The number of new energy cars registered in China reached 7.84 million in 2021, up more than 59 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Public Security showed Tuesday.

The figure represents 2.6 percent of the total number of cars in the country, said the ministry, adding that China has seen the number of newly registered new energy cars increase rapidly in the past five years.

A total of 2.99 million new energy passenger cars were sold last year, up 169.1 percent year on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Data from the public security ministry also showed that 36.74 million motor vehicles were registered in China last year, bringing the total number of motor vehicles to 395 million, including 302 million cars.

Last year also saw 27.5 million more people receive driving licenses, a year-on-year increase of 23 percent, the ministry said, noting that a total of 481 million people held motor vehicle driving licenses last year, including 444 million car drivers.

The number of cities with more than 1 million registered cars had reached 79 by the end of last year, with Beijing and the southwestern cities of Chengdu and Chongqing having over 5 million registered cars, respectively, according to the ministry.