Shanghai (ZXZC)- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on December 10 the government subsidies for new energy vehicle (NEV) promotion and application that occurred in 2018 were forecasted to reach RMB13.778 billion.

（Photo source: BYD)

In terms of the amount of the subsidy received, the top three automakers are BYD (RMB3.632 billion), Chery Automobile (RMB1.342 billion) and SAIC Motor (RMB1.138 billion). JAC Motors and BAIC (including BAIC Motor and BAIC BJEV’s Changan branch) were ranked fourth and fifth respectively with subsidies amounting to roughly RMB964 million and RMB879 million.

Last year, automakers in China applied for the NEV subsidies for a total of 574,445 vehicles, of which 33,068 units were considered unqualified to subsidies after an expert panel finished the assessment, according to the MIIT’s announcement.

The authority failed those vehicles for various reasons. Some of them have not been registered on the national regulation platform, and some vehicles do not satisfy the conditions required by the NEV recommendation catalogue in light of the energy density of battery system, the invoice information about key components and parameters of electric motor, etc.

Amid the sharp cut in subsidies, China is raising technical threshold for NEVs to receive allowance as it tries to rein in widespread cheating by automakers uncovered in recent years. For instance, a NEV purchased by a non-personal user would be given subsidies only if its aggregated driving range exceeded 20,000km.

Additionally, automakers are required to build platforms for monitoring operational status of vehicles sold and make them connected with a national regulation platform that was launched as early as 2016.