What new breakthroughs have been made in China’s new energy vehicle technology? This question was explored at the 2025 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum currently being held in Beijing, where numerous participants engaged in in-depth discussions surrounding the latest advancements in new energy vehicles. There is a general consensus that China’s new energy vehicle technology is displaying significant breakthroughs across multiple fronts.
This year, China has achieved new milestones in several areas of new energy vehicle technology, including chips, battery technology, mobile charging stations, and intelligent driving. The entire industry chain continues to innovate.
The automotive chip, which serves as the brain of the vehicle, is critical for controlling its functions. At the event, it was reported that a technology company specializing in intelligent driving chips has delivered 7.7 million chips to date, with expectations to exceed 10 million by the end of the year. Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, stated, “The application of artificial intelligence has introduced large models and a new paradigm for end-to-end computing. Our technology plan is to achieve fully autonomous driving within three years.”
Recently, BYD launched its latest charging platform, standardizing the voltage of key components such as batteries and motors to 1000 volts. The company also unveiled a full liquid-cooled megawatt fast-charging terminal system, capable of delivering maximum output power of up to 1360 kilowatts. At the forum, the company showcased its latest generation of battery cells, which can charge from 0 to 80% in just six minutes.
The president of Giwi Technology, Pai Feng, noted, “In our country’s energy-saving and new energy vehicle plans, ultra-fast charging batteries can be twice as expensive as regular fast-charging batteries. However, our ultra-fast charging batteries are only 5% to 8% more expensive than regular ones, which represents a significant leap forward.” The company plans to focus on developing solid-state batteries with ultra-fast charging capabilities, aiming for large-scale production by 2027.
Ouyang Minggao, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, emphasized the need for rapid charging during long-distance highway travel, stating, “It should be as fast as fueling a traditional vehicle. Therefore, manufacturers are developing supercharging, even referred to as flash charging. High-power charging generates substantial heat, so we have made many breakthroughs and innovations in thermal management.”
In 2023, numerous automotive companies have introduced L2 level smart driving vehicles, which feature partial automation capabilities. Furthermore, it is anticipated that new smart driving technologies will upgrade to L3 level, which involves conditional automation, accelerating the rollout of L3 smart driving vehicles.
This year marks the beginning of a new era for new energy vehicles with the integration of AI technology. An increasing number of these vehicles are now equipped with autonomous decision-making and execution capabilities, facilitated by vehicle networking that supports smart transformations. It can be said that China’s new energy vehicle industry is gaining momentum with AI and intelligent driving at its core.
The latest generation of AI technology has enabled vehicles to enhance their sensory capabilities. For instance, a dialect recognition system can understand 56 local dialects across the country; in-cabin cameras can monitor the driver’s state in real-time, providing alerts for fatigue; and AI suspension systems can adjust the vehicle’s posture in milliseconds. Notably, vehicles trained on 30 billion kilometers of driving data can anticipate sudden road conditions five seconds in advance, significantly improving driving safety.
Zhang Yongwei, secretary-general of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, remarked, “The automotive industry is accelerating its integration with artificial intelligence, with many manufacturers already equipping their vehicles with advanced AI models. Many companies are now positioning themselves as AI-driven enterprises from the ground up.”
This year, the “Beidou Application Emerging Industry” made its debut in the government work report. A technology company focusing on Beidou and spatiotemporal capabilities has utilized the world’s first lane-level navigation service to support 2 million intelligent connected vehicles in implementing advanced driver assistance functions.
Chen Jinpei, CEO of Xunwei Location, explained, “By leveraging the capabilities of the Beidou system along with our ground systems, and integrating big data and AI technologies, we assist smart vehicles in planning, decision-making, and control based on spatiotemporal factors during their operation.”
Geely, the first car manufacturer to integrate DeepSeek, reported a 40% improvement in interactive response speed and an impressive 98% accuracy rate in intent recognition. The company has also released the industry’s first comprehensive AI technology system for smart vehicles, including voice large models, AI digital chassis, and intelligent cockpit innovations.
Gan Jiayue, CEO of Geely Auto Group, added, “Utilizing AI large models, vehicles can perceive external temperature, humidity, altitude, and gradient in real-time, allowing for intelligent decision-making. We can achieve fuel savings of approximately 10% to 15%.”
Moreover, safety is a crucial factor in the development of intelligent connected new energy vehicles. According to the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, in response to the complex challenges posed by technological iterations in new energy vehicles, AI technology has been introduced to construct over 100 driving safety scenario libraries. Experts indicate that current trends in new energy vehicle technology are leaning towards high voltage and integration.
However, issues such as extreme temperatures, complex road conditions, electromagnetic interference, and extreme driving scenarios continue to complicate the problem of vehicle control loss. For instance, vehicles may become unstable due to skidding on icy roads, or they may lose control due to brake failure while driving.
To address these challenges, the China Automotive Technology Research Center has launched the “Driving Control Safety Verification Scenario Library,” focusing on functional safety, high-voltage safety, and extreme environmental safety, which can simulate over 90% of typical driving risk scenarios in the laboratory.
Gao Jidong, general manager of the New Energy Vehicle Testing Center at the China Automotive Technology Research Center, stated, “We utilize AI models to simulate more driving risks and failure scenarios. Currently, we have over 100 working conditions, and with AI models, we can handle 200 to 300 working conditions, allowing us to virtually verify whether vehicles might experience loss of control and ensure vehicle performance quality.”
Experts noted that during the scenario construction phase, AI leverages its powerful data analysis capabilities to efficiently process vast amounts of road and driving behavior data. It can accurately identify key features and potential risk points under different conditions, making the constructed scenarios more precise and comprehensive.
