China's electric vehicle sales are likely to fall short of government target because vehicles are too costly and there's still a lack of charging outlets, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance research note.

Sales were about 13,000 vehicles from 2009 to 2011, and figures for 2012 are not expected to be any higher, the London-based researcher said on Wednesday.

The government aims to have 500,000 cumulative sales by 2015 and 5 million by 2020, as outlined in the New Energy Vehicle Industrial Plan for 2012 to 2020 released in July, part of an effort to cut pollution and help the Chinese auto industry catch up with foreign competito rs, New Energy Finance said.

"China is making a big bet on electric vehicles, but it will need to bring in expertise and technology from foreign players to create competitive vehicles, and to deploy the full muscle of its auto industry to produce vehicles the public trusts," said Michael Liebreich, chief executive officer of New Energy Finance.