China's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, which survives with powerful policy intervention and fostering, is an important branch of Chinese green energy policy revolution against climate change and circumstance issues. In the study, the roadmap of China's policy exploration on developing China's NEV industry within the time window of 2001-2020 was investigated systematically. Powerful policy intervention plays an important role in initializing the framework of China's NEV industry under the comprehensive situation when China's innovation capability and automobile technology were both at unsatisfactory state. China's policy of developing NEV market demonstrates that intense government intervention is necessary and successful at the starting stage of the NEV industry. Delicate balance between governmental intervention and market self-adjustment should be intensified by suitable policies. The pilot innovations and the serious lessons of China's policy explorations are of both practical and research significance for other developing countries. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.