Hybrid Research: China Hybrid EV penetration rate will hit 22% within five years
With the development of automobile energy-saving and new energy technologies and the promotion of low-carbon emission reduction policies worldwide, fuel economy and low-carbon emissions have been in the spotlight of automobile development, and hybrid electric vehicles have become R&D focus of current automobile industry.
The commercialization of hybrid vehicles has been developing for more than 20 years, with four major markets in the world: Europe, the United States, Japan, and China, which differ in technology, strategy and marketplace. Different automakers are also diversifying their hybrid system architectures. At present, hybrid technologies vary with technology platforms.
Hybrid vehicles are accelerating the pace of replacing fuel vehicles in China
According to statistics, 6.495 million new energy passenger cars (EVs+PHEVs) were sold globally in 2021, up 107.9% year-on-year with the market share hitting a record as high as 9%; wherein, the sales volume of battery-electric passenger cars (EVs) swelled by 110% year-on-year to 4.6 million units, and the sales volume of plug-in hybrid electric passenger cars (PHEVs) increased by 103% year-on-year to approximately 1.9 million units. In 2021, the global sales volume of energy-efficient HEVs jumped by more than 20% year-on-year to approximately 3.5 million units.
Catalyzed by a series of policies such as emission regulations, Measures for the Parallel Management of Corporate Average Fuel Consumption (CAFC) and New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Credits of Passenger Car Companies, Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0, energy-saving and new energy vehicles are burgeoning. Low fuel consumption and Measures for the Parallel Management of Corporate Average Fuel Consumption (CAFC) and New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Credits of Passenger Car Companies have prompted automakers to accelerate the transformation toward electrification and speed up the deployment of 48V, HEV, REEV, PHEV and other hybrid roadmaps.
In 2021, the sales volume of hybrid passenger cars in China reached 1.778 million units, including 470,000 PHEVs, 105,000 REEVs, 689,000 HEVs, and 513,000 48V mild hybrids. With the development of hybrid systems of Chinese independent brands, PHEVs will outsell HEVs and 48V mild hybrids by 2022. REEVs have performed well since the launch, and will still grow at a relatively high growth rate from 2022 to 2027.
The penetration rate of hybrid electric passenger cars in China will fetched 8.3% in 2021, and it is expected to hit 22% by 2027 with sales over 5.5 million units.

After several years of development, Chinese independent brand automakers have made significant progress in hybrid vehicle technology, even surpassed Japanese companies such as Toyota and Honda in some aspects of performance. Their models cover weak hybrids, mild hybrids/medium hybrids, strong hybrids and so on:
Micro Hybrid - Start / Stop (12V): The currently available start / stop 12V passenger car models mainly come from European and American brands, while Chinese independent brands account for 19% of the total models;
Mild/Medium Hybrid (48V): Although Chinese independent brand automakers have deployed 48V mild hybrid system technology, they offer few models, and almost only FAW-Hongqi, Geely and Great Wall have sold cars equipped with the technology.
PHEV: BYD DM, DM-i, Great Wall L.E.M.O.N DHT, Geely Thor Hybrid Hi·X, Changan Blue Whale iDD and other hybrid systems have been mass-produced. BYD DM and DM-i have been installed on many of its models; DHT, has been applied to Mocha, Latte, Macchiato and other models of Great Wall; Changan Blue Whale iDD has been applied to UNI-K, UNI-V models;
REEV: The REEVs currently for sale mainly include Seres SF5, AITO M5, Li ONE and Voyah FREE. In June 2022, Li Auto released a full-size SUV - Li L9, and AITO unveiled a medium and large range-extended SUV - AITO M7. Both were so appealing that they received over 20,000 orders upon launch.

OEMs have mass-produced a new generation of DHE + DHT + integrated electric drive hybrid architecture
From the perspective of technical route selection:
48V hybrid technology maintains steady growth by continuously improving motor efficiency and electrification level. At this stage, it is mainly driven by foreign OEMs;
HEV technology-based models pay more attention to development of energy saving, cost reduction, system simplification, etc.;
PHEV technology is developing towards low energy consumption and high cost performance, and China has explored an independent development of PHEV technology path;
REEV technology is complementary to other hybrid technologies due to its simple structure. High battery life and driving experience are welcomed by consumers. Driven by star models such as Li, AITO, and Voyah, it will grow rapidly in the next few years.
From the perspective of hybrid technology platform layout of OEMs, domestic OEMs have independently developed DHE (hybrid special engine) + DHT (hybrid special transmission assembly), and the platform supports multiple hybrid architectures such as HEV, PHEV, and REEV at the same time:

Next-generation Central and Zonal Communication Network Topology and Chip Industry Research Report, 2025
The automotive E/E architecture is evolving towards a "central computing + zonal control" architecture, where the central computing platform is responsible for high-computing-power tasks, and zonal co...
Vehicle-road-cloud Integration and C-V2X Industry Research Report, 2025
Vehicle-side C-V2X Application Scenarios: Transition from R16 to R17, Providing a Communication Base for High-level Autonomous Driving, with the C-V2X On-board Explosion Period Approaching
In 2024, t...
Intelligent Cockpit Patent Analysis Report, 2025
Patent Trend: Three Major Directions of Intelligent Cockpits in 2025
This report explores the development trends of cutting-edge intelligent cockpits from the perspective of patents. The research sco...
Smart Car Information Security (Cybersecurity and Data Security) Research Report, 2025
Research on Automotive Information Security: AI Fusion Intelligent Protection and Ecological Collaboration Ensure Cybersecurity and Data Security
At present, what are the security risks faced by inte...
New Energy Vehicle 800-1000V High-Voltage Architecture and Supply Chain Research Report, 2025
Research on 800-1000V Architecture: to be installed in over 7 million vehicles in 2030, marking the arrival of the era of full-domain high voltage and megawatt supercharging.
In 2025, the 800-1000V h...
Foreign Tier 1 ADAS Suppliers Industry Research Report 2025
Research on Overseas Tier 1 ADAS Suppliers: Three Paths for Foreign Enterprises to Transfer to NOA
Foreign Tier 1 ADAS suppliers are obviously lagging behind in the field of NOA.
In 2024, Aptiv (2.6...
VLA Large Model Applications in Automotive and Robotics Research Report, 2025
ResearchInChina releases "VLA Large Model Applications in Automotive and Robotics Research Report, 2025": The report summarizes and analyzes the technical origin, development stages, application cases...
OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2025
ResearchInChina releases the "OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2025", which sorts out iterative development context of mainstream automakers in terms of infota...
Autonomous Driving SoC Research Report, 2025
High-level intelligent driving penetration continues to increase, with large-scale upgrading of intelligent driving SoC in 2025
In 2024, the total sales volume of domestic passenger cars in China was...
China Passenger Car HUD Industry Report, 2025
ResearchInChina released the "China Passenger Car HUD Industry Report, 2025", which sorts out the HUD installation situation, the dynamics of upstream, midstream and downstream manufacturers in the HU...
ADAS and Autonomous Driving Tier 1 Suppliers Research Report, 2025 – Chinese Companies
ADAS and Autonomous Driving Tier 1 Suppliers Research Report, 2025 – Chinese Companies
Research on Domestic ADAS Tier 1 Suppliers: Seven Development Trends in the Era of Assisted Driving 2.0
In the ...
Automotive ADAS Camera Report, 2025
①In terms of the amount of installed data, installations of side-view cameras maintain a growth rate of over 90%From January to May 2025, ADAS cameras (statistical scope: front-view, side-view, surrou...
Body (Zone) Domain Controller and Chip Industry Research Report,2025
Body (Zone) Domain Research: ZCU Installation Exceeds 2 Million Units, Evolving Towards a "Plug-and-Play" Modular Platform
The body (zone) domain covers BCM (Body Control Module), BDC (Body Dom...
Automotive Cockpit Domain Controller Research Report, 2025
Cockpit domain controller research: three cockpit domain controller architectures for AI Three layout solutions for cockpit domain controllers for deep AI empowerment
As intelligent cockpit tran...
China Passenger Car Electronic Control Suspension Industry Research Report, 2025
Electronic control suspension research: air springs evolve from single chamber to dual chambers, CDC evolves from single valve to dual valves
ResearchInChina released "China Passenger Car Elect...
Automotive XR Industry Report, 2025
Automotive XR industry research: automotive XR application is still in its infancy, and some OEMs have already made forward-looking layout
The Automotive XR Industry Report, 2025, re...
Intelligent Driving Simulation and World Model Research Report, 2025
1. The world model brings innovation to intelligent driving simulation
In the advancement towards L3 and higher-level autonomous driving, the development of end-to-end technology has raised higher re...
Autonomous Driving Map (HD/LD/SD MAP, Online Reconstruction, Real-time Generative Map) Industry Report 2025
Research on Autonomous Driving Maps: Evolve from Recording the Past to Previewing the Future with "Real-time Generative Maps"
"Mapless NOA" has become the mainstream solution for autonomous driving s...