"New-energy cars are bound to be the future trend," said Peng.

The State Council pledged to boost the new-energy auto sector in the next few years. A plan released in April promised China's accumulative output of pure electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles would reach 500,000 units by 2015.

According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to August, China sold 6,019 new-energy vehicles in total, among which 2,661 were pure electric and 3,358 were hybrid models.

To buy or not to buy

The truth is that favorable policies and huge market potential are not adding up to corresponding profits in this sector.

The sales of new-energy vehicles, especially pure electric ones, mainly depend on government procurement. Low recognition among consumers, insufficient charging facilities and sluggish industrialization are all obstacles to progress.

Compared with fuel-driven cars, new-energy vehicles are economic, practical and energy-saving. Taking the third-generation J3 EVs made by JAC for example, the car is priced at 150,000 yuan ($23,800), including the 57,000-yuan ($9,000), 10,000-yuan ($1,590) and 5,000-10,000-yuan ($795 to $1,590) subsidies granted by the Chinese Government, the Hefei Municipal Government and JAC, respectively. Citizens in Hefei can buy the car at only 75,000 yuan ($11,900). The car consumes only 14 kwh of electricity for every 100 km. "Driving an electric car for 10 million km will save 750,000 liters in fuel and cut carbon emission by 900,000 cubic meters," said Jiang.

The advantages have not aroused mass market appeal, however. In August, Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, introduced a license plate lottery for new cars and allocated 1,090 license plates for new-energy and energy-saving vehicles in the first round of the lottery—but only 186 were used. And so far, there is still no private purchase on pure electric vehicles in Beijing as preferential policies haven't been introduced.

"I am planning to buy an electric car but worry about the charging problem," Liu Lichuan from Beijing said. Lack of charging facilities is the biggest challenge in the new-energy auto sector and there is still no clear answer to who should be responsible for building such infrastructure. "The government should support and introduce a unified standard to establish infrastructure, like charging stations in order to promote the industrialization of the sector," said Jiang Min.

According to the nation's development plan for new-energy and energy-saving vehicles, a network covering 2,000 charging stations and 400,000 charging points in more than 20 pilot cities and their nearby areas will be established by 2015.

JAC has taken the lead in solving the power charging issue. For the third-generation J3 EVs, two kinds of charging cable are available for the car, matching with charging points built by the State Grid and household outlets respectively.

"It can travel at least 100 km in one charge, enough for short-trip transportation in cities," said Jiang. She owns a third-generation J3 EV and expects charging stations to be established in as many cities as possible before too long, adding to customer cost saving and environmental preservation for the future.

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