BEIJING, May 11 -- China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sales expanded 110 percent year on year to 636,000 units in April, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed Thursday.

NEV sales in the first four months totaled about 2.22 million units, increasing by 42.8 percent from a year ago.

The output of NEVs in the country was 640,000 units last month, up 110 percent year on year, the data revealed.

As a front-runner in NEV consumption, China continued to roll out supportive policies to sustain the development of its NEV market -- particularly in its vast rural areas.

Earlier this month, China made arrangements to accelerate its construction of charging infrastructure to improve its promotion of both NEVs in rural areas and rural vitalization, according to a recent State Council executive meeting.

In April, the NEV market share in China reached 29.5 percent.

NEV exports came in at 100,000 units last month, up 28.6 percent month on month and bringing the country's total monthly auto exports to 376,000 units.