China's new energy vehicle production surging

BEIJING - Chinese automakers produced more than 25,000 new energy vehicles in June, four times as many as they did in the same month last year, as the government promotes use of less polluting vehicles, new data indicated on Tuesday.

Breaking down last month's figures, they produced 10,500 electric cars, growing 200 percent year on year, and 6,663 plug-in hybrid cars, growing 700 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Meanwhile, output of electric commercial vehicles last month reached 6,218, up 500 percent year on year, while output of plug-in commercial hybrid vehicles grew 148 percent to 1,645.

The June data brought total output of new energy vehicles in the first half of 2015 to 78,500, up 300 percent year on year, said the MIIT.

It did not provide figures for the number of cars sold in June.

The Ministry of Commerce announced earlier this year that China will continue to build charging facilities in cities and allow tax exemptions and subsidies on new energy vehicle purchases.

In March, the Ministry of Transport set a target of having 300,000 new energy commercial vehicles on China's roads by 2020: 200,000 new energy buses and 100,000 new energy taxis and delivery vehicles.