People's Daily published a five-part investigative series titled "Perspectives on the New Energy Vehicle Industry" from August 26 to 30, 2026, examining how the world's largest NEV market is entering a new stage of high-quality development.
The series defines five new standards for the industry: safety, function, quality, service and value. It argues that with NEV penetration above 70% for Level 2 driver-assistance features and intense competition, differentiation now comes from overall product strength rather than simple price competition.
Key data cited in the series include 23.683 million charging piles nationwide by the end of July 2026, up 41.9% year on year; Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving system having accumulated 13 billion kilometers of testing; and in July, more than eight in ten fuel-vehicle owners who replaced their cars choosing new energy vehicles.
Image: Low-speed electric vehicle charging scene in Jiangsu, China. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
