China Electric Vehicle Market Analysis 2015

2014 may be called the “first year” of the development of Chinese electric vehicles, with annual sales reaching 74,763, 3.2 times higher than in 2013. With the ascent in the global electric vehicle market, China becomes the second largest market in the world after the United States, eyeing 23.5% market share. Among the top 20 most popular models in 2014, BYD Qin, Kandi K10, Chery QQ3 EV, Zotye E20, BAIC E150 EV and BYD e6 came from China, representing a combined 15.3% share of total sales in the global market.

In terms of market segments:

Almost 34,000 Chinese BEV passenger cars were sold in 2014, surging by 190% year on year; popular models were, in order, Chery QQ3EV, Zotye E20, BAIC E150 EV, BYD E6, JAC iEV4, and Zotye Cloud 100 with their market share totaling as high as 85%. BEV as the ultimate goal of China’s new energy vehicle development will still see new models launched by companies for participation in market competition.

In 2014, China recorded PHEV passenger car sales of 17,500, 123 times that in 2013. In today’s Chinese PHEV passenger car market, there are mainly BYD Qin and Roewe 550 plug-in with the former holding a dominant position with sales of 14,747. In 2015, Chang’an Automobile, Dongfeng Motor, GAC, Volvo, etc. are planning to launch PHEV models, which will intensify market competition. At the same time, companies affected by the policy are expected to turn to the development of EREV (extended range electric vehicle) models.

In the aspect of corporate development, Zotye, BYD, BAIC, Kandi, etc. have made plans for electric car sales target and models in 2015. Among them, Zotye shows the highest target of 80,000 in sales by continuing to rely on its two main models i.e. E20 and Cloud 100 with 50,000 and 30,000, respectively.

As the biggest winner in China’s EV market, BYD sold an accumulative of 20,972 electric cars in 2014, with its market share rising to 28.05%; there are mainly Qin (plug-in), E6 (BEV) and DENZA (BEV, a joint...