According to data provided by Shanghai's vehicle registration department, a total of 45,060 new-energy cars registered in Shanghai in 2016. Between 2013 and 2016, the city promoted more than 100,000 new-energy vehicles, making it the city with the most new-energy cars in the world.

According to Liu Jianhua, a researcher at the Shanghai New Energy Vehicle Promotion Office, China, the United States, Norway, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, France, South Korea and Spain are the top 10 countries when it comes to promotion of new-energy vehicles. At present, the world's total new-energy vehicle ownership sits at 2 million. Of that number, China is responsible for a whopping 900,000 units. The U.S. follows with 600,000 units, and Norway has more than 100,000 units, ranking third.

Liu said that Shanghai is the only city in the world to have promoted more than 100,000 new-energy vehicles. At present, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen are the country's top three cities for promotion of new-energy vehicles. As of the end of November 2016, Beijing had 91,000 such registered vehicles, second only to Shanghai. Shenzhen ranked third with 56,000 registered new-energy vehicles.

The vigorous promotion of new-energy vehicles has also contributed to rapid development of related industry chains. According to the latest data from the Shanghai Bureau of Statistics, from January to November 2016, the city's new-energy vehicles achieved a gross output of about 11.5 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 29.5 percent.