China first to produce over 10m NEVs in a year

China's year-to-date new energy vehicle production volume surpassed 10 million units on Thursday, making it the first country in the world with an annual production that has crossed that milestone, and China will continue to accelerate the comprehensive market-oriented expansion of NEVs, a senior official said.

The country will strengthen the building of a green supply chain system and promote the coordinated carbon reduction of the entire industry chain, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Thursday.

Last year, the annual production volume of NEVs in China totaled 9.59 million units. In 2013, the first year that production and sales of NEVs were included in the statistical system, only 18,000 units were produced, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.