(Yicai Global) July 14 -- The penetration rate of new energy vehicles sold at retail in the Chinese market climbed to a record last month, as consumer acceptance continues to gather momentum, according to official data.

The figure was 35.1 percent in June, up from 27.3 percent a year earlier, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.

Retail sales of NEVs soared 25.2 percent to 665,000 units last month, the CPCA said. Total retail sales jumped 37.3 percent to nearly 3.09 million in the first half.

In the six months ended June 30, the NEV penetration rate was 32.4 percent, CPCA data also showed.

The increase is partly due to changes in the market structure and the fact that sales of plug-in hybrid cars had explosive growth in the first half.

Sales of plug-in hybrids surged 91.1 percent to over 1 million between January and June from a year earlier, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. June's figure set a monthly record high of 232,000.

Meanwhile, sales of pure electric vehicles rose only 31.9 percent to more than 2.7 million units in the period.

Technological advances have cut costs, leading to lower pricing of plug-in hybrid that makes them more competitive with fuel vehicles. For example, BYD's Qin Plus DM-i Champion Edition, a pioneer in the field of plug-in hybrid development launched in February, cut its starting price to below CNY100,000 (USD13,980).

Electric cars are still in the stage where battery costs drive prices, Ouyang Minggao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the China EV 100 Forum in April. As government subsidies are gradually eliminated, plug-in hybrids’ share of the NEV market is expected to rise to 30 percent to 40 percent in the next five to 10 years from 22 percent last year, he noted.

But as the production costs of batteries and EVs further decline, the market share of pure electric cars will gradually begin to dominate after 2030, Ouyang added.

Leading players BYD and Tesla still had a large share of China's NEV market in the first half, with BYD’s sales reaching 1.26 million, and Tesla's 889,000. Third-ranked GAC Aion sold only 209,000 units in the first half, followed by Li Auto with 139,000 and SAIC-GM-Wuling with 184,000. The cumulative sales of other brands did not exceed 100,000.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione