China Unveils 15th Five-Year Plan for Smart NEVs

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), together with eight other central government departments, publicly released the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicle (ICV/NEV) Industry on September 11, setting a “1+4” goal system for 2030 and laying out a roadmap for the country’s transition from a “big auto country” to an “auto power,” as Xinhua News reported.

The plan, issued jointly by MIIT and the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, State Administration for Market Regulation, and Cyberspace Administration of China, was formally drawn up on September 9 and published on September 10, per the MIIT official document.

Ambitious 2030 Targets

The plan’s headline goals for 2030 are striking. New energy passenger vehicles are to reach 70% of new passenger car sales, while new energy commercial vehicles are to reach 40% of new commercial vehicle sales. Vehicles equipped with autonomous driving functions are to achieve large-scale application, with high-level autonomous driving realized in scenarios including expressways, urban expressways, and some urban roads.

The plan also sets hard efficiency benchmarks: passenger car average fuel consumption of about 3.3 liters per 100 km and battery-electric passenger car average energy consumption of about 11.5 kWh per 100 km. By 2030, China aims to cultivate several whole-vehicle enterprises entering the global top ten by sales and several parts suppliers entering the global top 100, while lifting industry labor productivity by 15% versus 2025 and achieving carbon peak before 2030.

Five Task Areas, 17 Key Tasks

The plan is organized around five major task areas — improving technological innovation capability, optimizing and upgrading the industrial system, promoting cross-sector integrated development, building a scientific industry governance system, and opening new prospects for global industrial cooperation — comprising 17 key tasks, four major engineering projects, and three key actions.

“Improving technological innovation capability” ranks first. It calls for strengthening key core technology breakthroughs, improving industrial chain resilience and security, and enhancing the efficiency of the innovation system.

“Technological innovation is the unchanging foundation of industrial development,” Shao Ji, deputy director of the Industrial Development Department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference, according to CNR Auto. He said next steps will focus on new electrical/electronic architectures, all-solid-state batteries, and automotive operating systems.

Safety First, Cross-Sector Integration

Guo Shougang, director of the First Equipment Industry Department at MIIT, emphasized that safety remains paramount. “We will always put safety first, advance technological innovation and industrial development on the premise of ensuring safety, so that the people can both enjoy the convenience of technological progress and have adequate safety guarantees,” he said. MIIT will accelerate revision of product reliability and environmental adaptability standards to prevent “unreasonable innovative designs and insufficiently tested products from entering the market.”

The plan also promotes deepening integration of vehicles with information and communications technology, energy, transport, and urban development. Specific measures include raising the penetration of vehicle-side 5G/5G-A and C-V2X direct communication, deepening the integration of autonomous driving with logistics and mobility, and accelerating charging and battery-swap infrastructure — including scientific deployment of high-power charging facilities and shoring up rural charging gaps.

Market Governance and Going Global

On market order, the plan calls for strengthening anti-monopoly, anti-unfair competition, and price enforcement to establish a quality-oriented, healthy competitive market environment. On internationalization, it emphasizes top-level design for the auto industry’s global expansion, guiding enterprises to deepen cooperation through trade, investment, and technology, while supporting foreign firms operating in China.

Cao Wen, deputy director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce, said authorities will improve policies for the auto industry going global, build a comprehensive overseas service system, strengthen compliance, and protect enterprises’ overseas interests.

Expert Reaction: Pragmatic or Conservative?

Experts offered measured assessments. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, characterized the 70%/40% targets as “conservative targets, correct direction,” citing three rationales: the national mission to move from big auto country to auto power, industrial confidence given that NEV passenger car retail penetration already exceeds 60%, and a differentiated strategy using passenger cars as a benchmark while concentrating resources on commercial vehicle shortcomings.

Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at Huanghe Science and Technology University, called the goals “more pragmatic” given the industry’s growing scale and maturity. He noted that the hard targets of 3.3 liters of fuel and 11.5 kWh per 100 km will guide domestic models toward miniaturization and lightweighting, marking a shift from scale expansion to high-quality, low-carbon development.

A BYD executive said the plan “looks to the long term, setting higher standards for industry innovation and upgrading, structure optimization, governance improvement, and internationalization layout, while also fitting the industry’s current situation.”

What to Watch Next

The plan builds on the 14th Five-Year Plan period, during which China’s vehicle integration, power batteries, smart cockpits, and LiDAR technologies entered the world’s front ranks and market size jumped from the millions to tens of millions, according to Guangming Daily. MIIT said it will strengthen cross-departmental coordination and central-local linkage to drive implementation. Fulfilling the 70% passenger and 40% commercial vehicle targets — and delivering high-level autonomous driving at scale — will be the key tests of whether China’s ambition to join the ranks of the world’s automotive powers is realized.