Abstract: New quality productive forces represent the development direction of productive forces, directly related to economic growth, industrial chain status and international competitiveness, and has become the focus of industrial competition among the major countries around the world. The cultivation and development of new quality productive forces not only require the full play of market mechanisms to stimulate the initiative and vitality of market micro entities, but also rely on the role of industrial policies. China's new energy vehicle industry has been achieved great success, in which industrial policies has played a key role. By reviewing the formation and development of the new energy vehicle industry, this paper reveals the role of demand-side industrial policies in promoting the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces through mechanisms including signal release, scenario creation, demand induction, and market competition. Different from the traditional industrial policies that mainly focus on the supply side, the demand-side industrial policies target users of new technologies and product, and solves the problems of high uncertainty, high risk, and insufficient investment motivation of enterprises in the early stage of the development of new quality productive forces. The successful implementation of demand-side industrial policies requires avoiding the selection of specific technologies, adjusting support intensity and policy tools in a timely manner based on the improvement of technology and industry maturity, and coordinating with supply-side industrial policies and other policies. To establish a sound system and mechanism for developing new quality productive forces, it is necessary to pay attention to the role of demand-side industrial policies and build a more comprehensive demand-side industrial policy system.