BEIJING - Chinese consumers prefer plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) to blade electric vehicles (BEV), according to a report released by the country's automobile guild and a leading global marketing research firm on Tuesday.

About 14 percent of respondents would prefer to buy a PHEV for its longer run time and lower reliance on charging facilities, while only 8 percent prefer BEVs, despite the fact that sales of BEVs almost doubled those of PHEVs in the first half of 2015, according to a report released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) and Nielsen.

Sales of new energy vehicles in H1 more than doubled those in the first half of last year, and China is likely to become the world's largest electric vehicle market, according to CAAM.

The report also said short run times, long charging times and too few maintenance stations are major barriers to growth of China's electric vehicle market and revealed that consumers expect more preferential policies for buying and using new energy cars.