China’s plan to fill the streets with electric and autonomous cars in 15 years is now official

With the European Union launching into the electric car, with the intention of definitively abandoning the combustion engine and manufacturers trying to stop this possibility, China has presented its new automobile roadmap.

The institution in charge has been China Society of Automotive Engineers (CSAE) who have revealed the Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 3.0. Or, in other words, its roadmap for the automotive industry between now and 2040.

The “new energy” car, that is, electric and plug-in hybrid, will be the cornerstone of a strategy that focuses on a reduction in polluting emissions but also on intensive automation of mobility. In said document, they assure ChinaDaily2,000 experts have been involved and it has taken 18 months to carry it out.

“New energy” and autonomous cars

The key points of the new Chinese roadmap in relation to its automobile market are summarized in CarNewsChinawho have exhaustively compiled the main pillars of a strategy that has gained in complexity. And this is based on the 1+5+26 concept:

• 1 roadmap or general strategy to establish global objectives
• 5 technological groups that group the technologies to be applied
• 26 specialized research topics to delve deeper into each area

Among the key points of the new Chinese strategy, the following stand out: goals:

• It is expected that in 2028, polluting emissions produced by the automobile industry will reach their maximum. From there, the goal is to reduce them by 60% in 2040.
• It is expected that by 2040, 85% of cars will be “new energy”, the name China uses to call plug-in hybrids and electric cars. Of those, around 80% are expected to be fully electric.
• In 2040, it is expected that a third of cars sold will continue to use combustion engines, either as hybrids, plug-in hybrids or extended-range electric vehicles.
• From 2035 all passenger vehicles will be, at a minimum, hybrids.
• As a result, new energy vehicles are expected to lead sales from 2030 onwards.
• Gradual penetration of cars with technology level 4 autonomous driving (current robotaxis) and appearance of level 5 cars (same way of operating but in any type of circumstance, without restrictions due to lighting or weather circumstances).

In the presentation Zhang Jinhuapresident of CSAE, has pointed out that one of the big differences between this roadmap and the previous ones (they already presented similar documents in 2016 and 2020) is that this time the program has focused on put more emphasis on production strategies that must be put in place to promote these technologies when. In previous documents, he assures, they would have focused on the technology itself and not so much on the industry.

This has its consequences therefore in all areas of the industry. First, because manufacturers must adapt their production models to reduce polluting emissions when manufacturing vehicles, but also because, they say, a more robust connected network integrated into the cloud will be created to servicing autonomous vehiclesimproving their safety and independence when driving on their own. This is essential to achieve the great objective: “zero accidents, zero victims and high efficiency.”

Regarding emissions targets, a classification system and methodology will be created to improve efficiency during production. The final goal is not only that in 2040 manufacturing will emit 60% less pollution than in 2028. Manufacturers are expected to save costs by working with data interconnection to analyze the most efficient system, even for the supply of parts or the sale of items.

The program also focuses on the solid state batteries. This type of energy accumulators promise to position themselves as the element that allows the electric car to be consolidated at all levels, with promises of ranges of a thousand kilometers and greater safety for the batteries.

For make China the leader in the sectorit is wanted that in 2030 the solid state batteries They are already part of the reality of their industry, although on a small scale. The great productive leap is not expected until 2035.

So far, CSAE has presented two other roadmaps that have been gaining weight within the Chinese State. To understand how the situation has changed in less than ten years, 500 experts participated in the first program, a quarter of those who made up this latest presentation.

In 2016 The program focused on the 1+7 strategy, with an overall roadmap and seven technologies in which China wanted to be a leader: energy-saving vehicles, “new energy” vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, smart connected vehicles, battery technology for electric cars, technologies related to vehicle weight, and automotive manufacturing technology.

In 2020the program was expanded with the well-known 1+9. Then, that same roadmap was expanded with two new objectives, the development of combustion engines and the intention to make the Chinese automotive industry cleaner. 1,000 experts already participated in that redesign.

Now the new project review some of the previous objectivesremaining as specified at the top of the article. What is certain is that in China they have been meeting the goals they had set. For example, in the 2020 roadmap they anticipated sales of 20% for “new energy” cars in 2025. However, this figure is almost 50% at the end of September 2025.

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