China wants slimmer electric vehicles after years of larger batteries and rising demand for space and features made passenger cars significantly heavier and wider, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

A mandatory national standard that took effect on Jan. 1 bars new battery-electric passenger car models that fail to meet energy-consumption requirements from being produced, sold, or registered.

The rule, GB 36980.1-2025, applies to pure battery-electric passenger cars in the M1 class with a design total mass of up to 3,500 kilograms. It does not cover plug-in hybrids or extended-range models.

It sets binding energy-consumption caps based on curb weight and technical characteristics, including 15.1 kWh per 100 km on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle for cars weighing about 2 tonnes.

The limits are about 11% tighter than the previous recommended framework.

The average passenger car in China weighed 1,704 kilograms in 2024, about one-third more than in 2012. Some models marketed with 1,000 km of range use battery packs weighing up to 800 kilograms.

Many newer pure EVs already comply, but older models may need redesigns or could lose 2026 to 2027 purchase-tax eligibility.

Regulators are seeking efficiency gains that could raise range by about 7% without increasing battery capacity.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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