At the end of 2025, official China adopted a national standard, which comes into force on January 1, 2026, and for the first time introduces a mandatory limit on how much electricity a newly produced electric passenger car can consume per 100 kilometers, depending on its weight. The authorities emphasize that the goal is to encourage the development of more efficient vehicles, to extend ranges with the same battery capacity and to reduce the total load on the power system by increasing the number of electric vehicles.
Increasing efficiency
The regulations apply to purely electric cars weighing up to two tonnes, and the upper limit of consumption is set at 15.1 kWh per 100 kilometers, which is approximately 11% stricter than the previous, voluntary guidelines. Models that do not meet the limits will have to be technically upgraded or else lose the right to tax benefits and be withdrawn from the market. Authorities say that, after technical upgrades, vehicles with the same battery capacity are expected to see an average increase in driving range of around 7% due to reduced energy consumption.
Most of the new models of major Chinese manufacturers, such as BYD and Geely, already meet or approach those thresholds, so adjustments are expected mainly in less efficient and heavier models. The new regulation on limiting consumption applies exclusively to fully electric passenger vehicles and does not include plug-in hybrid models or models with range extenders (range extenderima).
It is the first regulation of its kind in the world, with which China wants to become a leader in energy efficiency and consumption management in the power grid, when it comes to electric cars, which are very popular there.