This photo taken on July 3, 2023 shows the final inspection line at the general assembly workshop of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector has entered a new stage of high-quality development, marked by a steady increase in output, sales, exports, and consumption potential.

The country has seen its NEV output growing exponentially. The 20 millionth NEV rolled off the production line on July 3 in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, marking a milestone for the sector. The accumulative NEV output only exceeded 10 million units in February last year.

In the first half of 2023, the NEV output expanded 42.4 percent year on year to nearly 3.79 million units, while the NEV sales surged 44.1 percent year on year to almost 3.75 million units, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

The country exported 534,000 NEVs during the same period, expanding 160 percent from a year earlier.

BYD, one of China's fastest-growing electric vehicle makers, has exported its automobiles to over 70 countries and regions.

China's NEV sector is gaining a competitive edge in scale and quality, and the Chinese-branded vehicles exported are cost-effective, said Zhu Yifang, a researcher at the automotive strategy and policy research center under the China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd.

Building on the robust growth momentum, China has stepped up policy support in the NEV sector, particularly in its vast rural areas.

In May, China released a guideline to support people living in rural areas to purchase NEVs, focusing on boosting the construction of charging infrastructure.

To further unleash the domestic consumption potential, China extended its preferential purchase tax policy for NEVs to the end of 2027.

Preliminary estimates show the policy will result in 520 billion yuan (about 72.91 billion U.S. dollars) in tax exemptions and reductions.

Infrastructure, including charging facilities, has also seen a notable improvement in recent years.

The number of charging piles has increased from less than 100,000 in 2015 to 5.21 million in 2022. By the end of May this year, China's charging piles reached nearly 6.36 million.

As of the end of 2022, there were 226 vehicles per 1,000 people in China, and many families had never owned a car. The auto market still has massive room for growth, said Fu Bingfeng, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

With NEVs becoming more popular among Chinese consumers, third- and fourth-tier cities and rural areas may record faster market growth, Fu said, adding that the number of vehicles per 1,000 people will likely reach 400 in the future.

The NEV sector has entered a new stage of large-scale, globalized, and high-quality development, becoming an important part of China's modern industrial system, said Fu.