BEIJING -- China is seeing a surge in the number of newly established companies related to new energy vehicles (NEVs), according to data from database query platform Tianyancha.com.

In the first 11 months, the country saw more than 55,000 newly established NEV-related companies, exceeding the figure for 2019, the data showed.

So far, China has more than 180,000 companies operating businesses covering NEVs.

In breakdown, about 52 percent of the NEV-related firms were in the wholesale and retail sectors, 16 percent of them in the research and technical service sectors, and 10 percent in the leasing and business service sectors.

The data also showed that South China's Guangdong province has nearly 24,000 NEV-related firms, the highest in the country, followed by Jiangsu and Shandong, where such firms have both exceeded 17,000 in number.

China has led the world in NEV production and sales. About 160,000 NEVs were sold in October, up 104.5 percent year-on-year. In the first 10 months, NEV sales totaled 901,000, official data showed.