Infrastructure is key to driving toward a better tomorrow

The first is to promote setting up of charging stations in the regions surrounding Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The second is to focus next on the regions in central, western, and northeastern China.

Chen Ning, director of Deloitte China Automotive Consulting Practice, said: "The highlight is 100 percent new parking lots in residential properties should at least be ready for charging posts. As soon as the conditions are in place, citizens may install a charging post on their own. A guideline is in the pipeline to allow individuals to install a charging post and share among electric car users, either for free or for a fee."

There are three major State-owned companies among the players that will set up and operate electric vehicle charging posts. They are Potevio New Energy Co, NARTI Technology Development Co and Huashang Sanyou.

Chen said those setting up charging posts rely heavily on government subsidies. Since November last year, for each charging post built, local governments have received 4,000 yuan ($629) in subsidy from the central government.

Zhang Yu, managing director of industry consultancy Automotive Foresight (Shanghai) Co Ltd, said: "There have already been many encouraging policies for charging facilities, but the development was slow. There's no punitive rule saying if someone failed to meet the requirements, there would be penalties. We need tougher policies."

Guide for battery firms

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on Oct 12 the first list of auto battery-makers and products that met standards set in March's guidelines.

Ten Chinese battery-makers met the standards in terms of production capacity, product safety, and research and development capabilities.

And 36 battery products met the standards in terms of safety, life cycle, and warranty.

There are four types of batteries－ternary lithium, lithium-iron-phosphate, lithium-titanate, and nickel-metal-hydride.

Marco Hecker said: "Ternary lithium will be the mainstream power battery in the coming three years.

"But in future, there could be breakthroughs in other power battery technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cell and lithium sulfur."

New-energy vehicles

Two auto majors announced electric vehicle initiatives in China. Volvo Cars announced earlier this month it will make an electric model in 2019. Dongfeng Renault said it will localize production of an electric model from 2017.