China will continue to promote electric vehicles despite their dim sales nationwide, China Youth Daily reported Thursday citing Wang Binggang, chief consultant of the State 863 Energy-saving & New Energy Vehicle Project.

In 2012, China saw 12,791 electric and hybrid vehicles sold, contributing to 0.7 percent of the nation's total car sales.

"China saw a staggering amount of new vehicles sold each recent year, causing growing energy demands. This is quite different from the condition in America, whose energy demand remains stable. That's why Chinese policies support electric vehicles," Wang said.

The US announced it will fail the target to sell one million electric cars sales by 2015. A total of 14,687 electric vehicles were sold in the US last year, 0.1 percent of its total target.

China has set a target to sell 500,000 electric vehicles by 2015 in the Development Plan for Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicles Industry (2011-20).

"China faces high reliance on fossil oil import and a rising PM 2.5 level caused by fuel consumption," Wang said.