Sales of new-energy vehicles expected to surge this year

In addition to offering more products, many of them are making it easier for newenergy vehicles to recharge.

US electric car maker Tesla has built more than 200 charging poles for its customers in China, said the company's vice president Jin Jun, adding that the number is growing rapidly.

"The biggest concern for electric car owners is how far their cars will go. They will feel nervous if they cannot find a place to charge the cars."

BJEV, the new-energy vehicle arm of automaker BAIC, announced on Jan 25 that it will install 10,000 charging poles in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of 2017. It had already built more than 1,800 poles before that announcement.

Many companies are also innovating the ways to recharge. Shandong-based Tgood has invented a system that will control the time to start charging based on the vehicle's proposed departure time.

"If you want to leave two hours later, the system will start charging the car immediately. If you want to leave at around 7 am, it will charge your car perhaps at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning," said the company's president Yu Dexiang.

Yu said the scheme would ease the burden on the power provider and save money for car owners as the cost for electricity use is lower after midnight.

He added the charging system could also improve car safety by monitoring vehicle conditions, including tire pressure.

"In the traditional way you take your car to a 4S dealer when something goes wrong. Now we can tell you what will go wrong before you open the door of your car."

Telecom equipment maker ZTE is also making inroads into the industry by offering a wireless charging service that can be controlled by a mobile phone app.

ZTE Vice President Sun Zhen'ge said the company has signed contracts with more than 10 cities in China to charge their public vehicles, such as buses and taxis, and would soon also provide the service for private users.

Sun said ZTE would spend at least 1 billion yuan (160 million) on the wireless charging program from 2015.