NANCHANG, May 28 (Xinhua) -- East China's Jiangxi Province will advance new energy vehicles (NEVs), raising output to half a million by 2020.

Jiangxi has rich lithium and rare earth resources, and the NEV industry will be a priority, according to a provincial government document.

By 2020, Jiangxi will boost its technological level in the NEV industry. Lithium battery output is expected to reach 40GWh, with NEV industry revenue expected to reach 50 billion yuan (about 8 billion U.S. dollars).

By 2020, 75 percent of the new public buses will be NEVs, and consumers will be encouraged to purchase 100,000 NEVs.

Jiangxi will also expand charging facilities, aiming to have 260 stations and 100,000 posts by 2020.

China's new energy vehicle market recorded another year of rapid growth in 2017 as the government continued its green transport push. New energy vehicles refer to vehicles powered by non-traditional fuels, such as electric and hybrid vehicles.

A total of 777,000 new energy vehicles were sold in China last year, up 53.3 percent year on year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China's stock of new energy vehicles is the world's largest, with 1.53 million as of the end of 2017.