Beijing Municipality will raise the quota of new-energy vehicles (NEV) in the new car license plate allocation in the coming year, authorities announced Wednesday.

In a bid to curb air pollution, the capital city of China has taken a series of measures in recent years, such as capping the number of new car plates and taking one-fifth of private fuel cars off the road on weekdays based on the final digit of the number plates. 

The move, which takes into consideration the rapid progress in batteries and other technologies, as well as the increased ranges of NEV, is aimed at reducing fuel vehicle exhaust pollution and improving the air quality of the capital, said Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport.

The city will allocate 100,000 new car plates in 2022, among which the quota for NEV will be increased from 60,000 to 70,000, while the quota for traditional fuel cars will be reduced from 40,000 to 30,000, it said.

In November, China's NEV sales hit all-time high to 450,000 units, with both output and sales rising for 17 straight months on an annual basis.

The vigorous development of the NEV industry benefited from China's green goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Industry insiders generally believe China will achieve the goal of "20 percent penetration rate of NEV by 2025" ahead of schedule.

Zhang Yongwei, chief expert at Chinese auto think tank EV 100, predicted that electric cars and plug-in hybrids are expected to account for 30 percent of NEV sales in China in 2025, China Daily reported.

(With input from Xinhua)