In addition to increasing subsidies for new-energy vehicles and building more charging facilities, China is determined to boost the number of new-energy buses, taxis, delivery vehicles and sanitation vehicles on the road, the State Council said at an executive meeting chaired by Chinese premier Li Keqiang yesterday.

China is mandating that new-energy vehicles make up at least 50 percent of annual vehicle purchases by government departments and public institutions. In the past, the requirement was only 30 percent. 

The purchase ratio of new energy vehicles should now be at least 30 percent and this ratio will continue increasing as time goes by, according to the implementation plan from 2015.

After a big leap in the sale of new-energy vehicles in 2015, sales in China have been suffering at the start of 2016. 

Analysts hold that the 2015 sales spike can be attributed to policy support. In order to complete the procurement task, local governments bought more new-energy cars in the last quarter of 2015. As the buying spree of new-energy vehicles by local government faded, sales of new-energy vehicles also fell.