(Yicai Global) Oct. 28 -- New energy vehicles will account for more than half of all new cars sold in China by 2035 as the world’s biggest auto market is embracing cleaner transport options, according to an industry group.

The NEV sales ratio will be 20 percent by 2025, the China Society of Automotive Engineers also predicted in a report published yesterday. China-SAE, which is involved in creating domestic vehicle policies, surveyed 1,000 experts in the sector. 

Such an increase would be major. Last month, NEVs made up about 5 percent of total car sales at 130,000 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The total number of vehicles made and sold in the country each year should total 32 million units by 2025, 38 million by 2030, and 40 million by 2035, the report said. Last year, the figure was 25.8 million, an 8.2 percent drop from a year earlier amid a rare downturn in the sector, according to CAAM data.

China-SAE added that more than 95 percent of the NEVs will be battery-electric by 2035. The rest will be hybrids. At that point, China should also have about 1 million hydrogen fuel cars as commercial vehicles turn increasingly emission-controlled.

But even combustion engines are getting better. With more advanced technologies, fuel consumption should fall to 4.6 liters per 100 kilometers by 2025, while the figure should be 3.2 liters by 2030 and 2 liters by 2035. 

Half of all new cars will come with cellular vehicle-to-everything systems by 2025, the report said. Such networking between vehicles should become something that most vehicles do by 2030. Highly autonomous driving should be enabled by smart urban roads and expressways by 2035. 

As China's car industry is going electric, carbon dioxide emissions should peak around 2028 and fall to 20 percent of that level by 2035, the report added. 

Editor: Emmi Laine