NANJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- New energy vehicle (NEV) ownership in the first half of 2022 in east China's Jiangsu Province reached 698,732 units, up 94.86 percent year on year, according to the provincial traffic police department.

The number of pure electric cars in the province reached 607,590 by the end of June, accounting for 86.96 percent of the NEVs, the department said.

The province saw its registered NEVs surge 136.6 percent year on year to exceed 200,000 units in the first half of the year, making up 21.9 percent of the total newly-registered automobiles.

While its NEV consumption maintains a strong momentum, Jiangsu also seeks to spur the development of its NEV industry.

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.

As the pivotal component of NEVs, the power battery sector in Jiangsu is enjoying booming momentum in recent years. Changzhou, a manufacturing hub of the province, boasts over 80 power battery enterprises, with its industrial scale hitting 70 billion yuan (about 10.3 billion U.S. dollars).

China's NEV industry has grown steadily this year. In the first half of 2022, the NEV output and sales in the world's largest car market reached 2.66 million and 2.6 million units, respectively.

By the end of June, the country saw a total of 10.01 million NEVs going on the road, data from the Ministry of Public Security showed.