(Yicai Global) June 12 -- The Chinese government will oversee the rational investment of social capital in the country’s electric car battery industry, the vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said recently.

This will encourage technological innovation and increase the stability of industrial supply chains while at the same time avoiding runaway expansion and disorderly development, Xin Guobin said at an industrial conference that ended on June 11. He did not go into further details.

An MIIT index of global EV battery development shows that China has clear advantages, said Qu Guochun, director of an equipment development center affiliated to the MIIT.

China's vehicle-mounted battery capacity nearly doubled last year from the year before to 294.6 gigawatt hours, accounting for 56.9 percent of global sales, according to MIIT data. Installation capacity, including ternary battery and lithium iron phosphate battery, came to 91 GWh in the first four months, up 41 percent year on year.

Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hubei provinces have well-developed battery industries, Qu said.

Eastern Jiangsu province leads the country in terms of battery materials and manufacturing, he said. Southeastern Fujian province has strong battery capacity and technological innovation abilities, driven by industry leader Contemporary Amperex Technology.

Southern Guangdong province has strengths in upstream materials and battery recycling, southwestern Sichuan province has a lot of potential in terms of battery capacity and green production while central Hubei province is strong on battery recycling, he added.

Chinese firms delivered over 70 percent of the world's key main materials for lithium-ion batteries such as cathode and anode materials, electrolytes and diaphragms, MIIT data showed.

The industrial chains of battery recycling, cascade utilization and materials recycling are also being extended. Some 10,165 battery recycling service points have been built so far, enough to satisfy local recycling needs.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor