While the Chinese market for new energy vehicles is still developing slowly, low-speed electric cars, which are usually used for short-range driving in small cities and the rural-urban fringe, have enjoyed a rapid growth in China in recent years.

The annual sales of low-speed electric vehicles hit 200,000 in 2013, rising from less than 20,000 in 2009, said Pang Yicheng, chief executive officer of D1EV.com, a platform offering information and trading services for new energy vehicles.

Mainly priced at about 30,000 yuan ($4,960), low-speed electric vehicles have a strong market demand, although most of them are manufactured by private carmakers without a government license to produce new-energy vehicles. Therefore, the Chinese government has not yet recognized such vehicles as new-energy cars.