China is expected to achieve the goal of more than 50 percent NEV penetration rate 9 or 10 years ahead of schedule, said a former top industry regulatory official on Monday. 

Miao Wei, former minister of industry and information technology, said "China's new energy vehicle development has entered a brand-new stage of comprehensive market expansion, which will drive the NEV penetration rate to reach 50 percent as early as 2025." 

China set its goal, in 2020 that NEVs will become mainstream and account for more than 50 percent of the total auto sales by 2035.

Miao added that the battery, which is at the heart of NEV, has also gained momentum and gained a lead globally, and highlighted the necessity of commercializing all-solid-state batteries for China.

The all-solid-state battery is widely recognized as a promising solution to address the limitations of traditional lithium-ion batteries of NEVs.

Miao made the comments on Monday during the founding conference of China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform, an industry platform to drive the development of all-solid-state batteries.

At the conference, Ouyang Minggao, an initiator of the platform and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, anticipated that all-solid-state batteries are a key battleground for next-generation battery technology, and are expected to be industrialized by 2030.

"Though China has gained a global lead in lithium-ion battery, the country still has a long way to go in the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries," Ouyang said.

He called for more joint efforts to develop such batteries to maintain China's advantage in batteries on the global stage.

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn