Electric vehicles produced by Chinese automakers are not inferior to foreign brands, said Li Lei, executive supervisor of first "Qinghai Lake EV Rally 2014, China".

On the last day of the five-day competition, Li said domestic producers have localized the core technologies foreign electric automakers use.

"The fundamental natural resource for electric vehicles is lithium, of which one-third of the world's reserve is in Qinghai Lake. And their quantity and quality are remarkably envious to the foreign producers," Li said.
Li said many foreign producers have learned from domestic automakers, such as BYD, which has accumulated technology data from their long-time research.

"Although the industry develops late in China, Chinese electric vehicles are nothing inferior to foreign brands. It is slow over the first hurdle but will accelerate in middle and late course," Li said.

However, Li also said the electric vehicles are far from fully developed. The different recharging protocols are an example. If a charging system used for Audi cannot connect to a BMW, then it will be a waste, Li said.

He also warned of overlapping development of the industry, which may cause big surplus in the auto supply.

Despite these worries, he remains confident in the industry's growth, which he thinks will happen quickly.