China continues to lead the world in plug-in vehicle sales according to figures just released. New energy vehicles (NEVs) as they are called there accounted for sales of over 181,200 plug-in passenger cars in the first half of 2017. This is almost double the number of NEVs sold in the US in the same period  which was 89,256, according to InsideEVs.

Sales for the first half of 2017 grew by 42% compared to the same period in 2016. Demand is still growing as shown by NEVs’ share of total passenger car sales reaching a new high in June which was 2.5% of the market.

Pure EVs accounted for 82% of all NEV sales. Most of China’s NEVs are home-grown: non-Chinese brands accounted for only 6% of plug-in sales, the majority of that from Tesla.

Meanwhile, commercial vehicles are also rapidly electrifying: over 190,000 plug-in commercial vehicles were sold in 2016. EV-volumes.com expects sales to reach 270,000 units in 2017, mostly electric buses.