Policy shift will jolt new-energy vehicle market

Zeng also urged Chinese automakers to make greater efforts to come up with competitive models.

"Otherwise, they run the risk of being conquered by overseas brands, as in the conventional vehicle market, when the favorable policies expire years later."

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that 20,692 new-energy vehicles were produced and 20,477 sold in the first half of the year, more than double the figure from the same period last year.

Shares of BYD Co, the electric automaker partially owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, climbed 4.1 percent in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Ouyang Minggao, a professor at Tsinghua University and head of the nation's energy-saving and new-energy vehicle program, said sales could hit 100,000 units in 2014 as several new models are set to arrive by year's end.