NANJING - The new energy vehicle (NEV) ownership in East China's Jiangsu province reached 505,101 units in 2021, up 122.2 percent year-on-year, according to the provincial traffic police department.

The number of pure electric cars in the province reached 443,345 last year, accounting for 87.8 percent of the NEVs, the department said.

Jiangsu saw its registered NEVs soar 233.7 percent year-on-year to reach 239,058 units last year, making up 11.4 percent of the total newly-registered automobiles.

According to the provincial industry and information technology department, Jiangsu aims to increase its annual NEV output to 500,000 units by 2025 and the NEV output is expected to account for more than half of its total automobile output by 2035.

China's NEV consumption has maintained strong momentum in recent years. The country's NEV sales came in at 3.52 million units in 2021, ranking first globally in terms of the sales of NEVs for a seventh straight year.