The first group of four recharging posts for electric vehicles were installed and made operational on Thursday in south China's island Hainan Province as part of the central government's promotion throughout the nation of new energy vehicles.

The recharging posts were erected on Haifu Road in the provincial capital Haikou by Hainan Power Grid Corp., a subsidiary of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. (CSG).

The recharging posts will mainly be used for a government fleet of 30 electric cars, which will take to the street during the first half of this year, said Hu Bin, a recharging station program director with the Hainan Power Grid Corp.

Haikou was singled out in May 2010 as one of the 25 pilot cities in the country for the promotion and operation of electric vehicles.

Construction of recharging facilities began in November last year by the power company.

According to an electric vehicle development plan by the Haikou municipal government, the city will have installed six recharging stations, along with 759 recharging posts by 2012 to serve 1,050 new energy vehicles, including 400 electric vehicles.

The Chinese government introduced policies in 2010 to boost the development of new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.

According to a development blueprint released in September last year, China aims to have more than 500,000 new energy vehicles on the road by 2015 and 5 million by 2020.

In the meantime, China will build 4,000 electric vehicle charging stations over the next five years and another 6,000 before 2020.