Beijing, Jul 10 (IANS): China has rolled out a plan to boost its underdeveloped electric vehicle industry, with a goal of making the industry more competitive in the global marketplace, Xinhua reported.

The central government's plan calls for producing 500,000 electrical and hybrid cars by 2015, with the output of both types of vehicles slated to grow to two million units by 2020, according to the Chinese government website.

The plan's implementation is anticipated to drop average fuel consumption per passenger vehicle to 6.9 litres of gasoline per 100 km by 2015. The fuel use per energy-saving passenger vehicle will drop below 5.9 litres for every 100 km.

According to the plan, by 2020 average fuel consumption will be five litres while that for energy-saving cars it will be below 4.5 litres.

On Monday, industry experts, however, warned that China was facing a widening global gap in development of the sector, as other auto producers were also moving to beef up their electric car industries.

According to the 2012 Chinese Auto Industry Development Report, Chinese hybrid cars cannot save fuel as efficiently as their foreign competitors.

The next 20 to 30 years will be a "critical period" which witnesses formation of a global new-energy vehicle industry, said the report jointly released by the Research Department of Industrial Economics.

According to the government's plan, more charging facilities will be built within and between cities to meet the public requirement.

The new-energy vehicle market is believed to have big growth potential in China. The government will support the sector with friendly tax policies and financial services, as well as make greater efforts to train more professionals for the industry.