Special Number Plates for New Energy Vehicles

Special Registration Plates for New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), colloquially dubbed "green plates", are dedicated registration plates issued by the traffic police authorities to implement the national NEV development strategy through categorised vehicle registration and management. The plates were first piloted on 1 December 2016 across five cities—Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuxi, Jinan, and Shenzhen—before being rolled out nationwide in the first half of 2018.

Design and Appearance

Anchored on the design ethos of "green, eco-friendly, and high-tech", the special NEV registration plates feature four notable distinctions compared to standard vehicle plates:

Prominent green elements. Green serves as the primary base colour. Light NEVs feature a gradient green background, while heavy NEVs sport a dual-tone yellow-and-green scheme, visually underscoring their eco-friendly credentials.

Dedicated emblem. A bespoke NEV emblem is incorporated onto the plate, featuring a green backdrop with an electrical plug motif on the right and a stylised coloured element resembling the letter "E" (for Electric) on the left.

Increased digit capacity. Unlike standard 5-character plate numbers, NEV registration numbers are expanded from 5 to 6 characters (e.g., expanding from "粤B·D1234" to "粤B·D12345"). This expansion significantly boosts plate capacity and number availability, fulfilling the formatting objective of "fewer letters and more numerals".

Upgraded manufacturing process. The plates are produced using an eco-friendly hot-stamping process integrated with anti-counterfeiting features such as 2D barcodes, covert watermarks, and laser holograms. This ensures plate uniqueness and full traceability to the point of production, bolstering enforcement capabilities against cloned plates and forged documents. The plates measure 480 mm × 140 mm, which is 40 mm longer than standard plates.

Letter Coding Rules

NEV registration plates are categorised and assigned based on vehicle classification:

• Light NEVs: The first character utilizes either the letter D or F. "D" denotes pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs), while "F" signifies non-pure electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids [PHEVs], range-extended EVs [REEVs], and fuel cell vehicles [FCEVs]).

• Heavy NEVs: The sixth (and final) character utilizes the letter D or F, carrying the identical definitions as above.

Application and Conversion

New vehicle registration: For newly purchased NEVs, owners can apply for dedicated plates directly at local traffic management authorities or pre-select their registration numbers online via the official Traffic Safety Integrated Service Management Platform or the "Traffic Management 12123" mobile app. Eligibility criteria and application procedures mirror those for standard plates. Number selection is conducted either through an automated randomised draw (1 out of 50) or via personalised sequence selection based on established coding rules.

Existing vehicle conversion: Owners of NEVs currently fitted with standard blue plates may opt to voluntarily convert to the dedicated NEV plates or retain their existing plates. However, in cases of loss or damage, replacement plates will automatically be issued as dedicated NEV plates. Retaining existing standard plates will not affect the vehicle's entitlement to preferential NEV traffic management incentives.

Plate retention restrictions: Registration numbers cannot be transferred across different powertrain categories. For instance, a BEV plate starting with "粤AD" cannot be transferred to a non-pure electric NEV, and vice versa. Similarly, traditional blue plates from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles cannot be directly transferred to NEVs.

Fees: The production cost for dedicated NEV plates remains unchanged at 100 yuan per pair.

Policy Significance

Dedicated NEV registration plates serve as a practical foundation for implementing differentiated traffic management policies. Municipalities leverage these plates to roll out incentives such as exemption from road rationing rules and complimentary parking, while administering targeted policies based on plate categorisation. Concurrently, selected cities have introduced localised regulations establishing tighter eligibility criteria. For instance, from 2025 onwards, Shanghai will cease issuing dedicated green plate quotas for plug-in hybrids (including range extenders), restricting complimentary green plate allocations strictly to BEVs and fuel cell vehicles.