China's new energy vehicle market reached a milestone with its volume totaling 10.33 million units, Luo Junjie, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

In the first quarter, the production and sales of NEVs reached 1.29 million and 1.26 million units respectively, both up 140 percent compared with same period of 2021.

The market share of NEVs accounted for 19.3 percent of the vehicle sector, up 11.4 percentage points year-on-year.

Chinese-brand NEVs have posted a growth of 1.5 times, which is higher than the overall market.

The production and sales of fuel cell vehicles increased by 7.2 times and 3.9 times year-on-year, respectively. The production of battery swap NEVs reached around 40,000 units, up 82 percent year-on-year.

The construction of battery swapping and charging infrastructure has been accelerated. In the first quarter, China set up 492,000 charging piles, up 3.6 times year-on-year; and 154 battery swap stations, up 1.6 times year-on-year.

Luo also noted that the industry faces challenges around the pandemic, rising prices of raw materials and chip shortages.