An electric vehicle is connected to one of the charging points at a newly-opened electric vehicle charging station in the underground parking lot of the Wukesong sports center in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

The current electric vehicle (EV) consumption does not have a significant impact on the national power system, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Tuesday, noting that chip supply eased slightly in September.

Recently, the tight supply of electricity has become the focus of news. There are concerns about the rapid growth of EV sales that is considered to further put more pressure on the power supply. However, there is no significant impact on China's power system coming from surging EV consumption, said the CPCA on Tuesday in its monthly auto sales report.

The strong wholesale sales at the end of September are also signal of improvement on chip supply which is expected to boost the retail sales in the car market in October, the vehicle industry body said.

The EV market saw a strong growth with an annual increase of nearly 200 percent while the whole auto market witnessed a plunge of nearly 20 percent on a yearly basis.

According to data from the CPCA, China sold 1.6 million passenger vehicles in September, down 17.3 percent from a year earlier, while wholesale sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) for passengers reached 355,000 units in September, up 14.7 percent month-on-month and 184.4 percent year-on-year. 

From January to September, wholesale of NEVs in China reached over 2 million, up 218.9 percent year-on-year.

Tesla China set a new sales record of 56,006 vehicles in September, up 27 percent month-on-month, and 394 percent year-on-year. A total of 52,153 new cars were delivered to local owners with domestic monthly sales surging 300 percent over the same period in August, according to a statement by Tesla on Tuesday.

From January to September 2021, Tesla China sold more than 300,000 units with domestic sales exceeding 200,000 units and exports reaching over 100,000 cars.

In September, the production and sales of NEVs hit a new high, with more than 350,000 units in total. The penetration rate from January to September rose to 11.6 percent, meaning that one out of every 10 cars sold in China is an NEV. In addition, auto exports also continued to maintain a high growth rate in September, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

CAAM said on Tuesday that in September, chip supply eased slightly in the auto industry but still fell short of production needs. Combined with a higher base in the same period in 2020, auto production and sales rose month-on-month but fell year-on-year.