The number of new energy vehicles in China has reached 1.01 million, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). A total of 825,000 of them were electric vehicles, and the other 193,000 were hybrid electric vehicles, said the ministry’s traffic management bureau.

In order to better identify the vehicles, the MPS designated five pilot cities in which 76,000 exclusive green license plates were distributed for new energy vehicles in 2016. The exclusive license plates will cover all Chinese cities by the first half of 2018, the MPS said, according to Chinadaily.com.cn.

The production and sales volume of new energy vehicles is expected to surpass 5 million by 2020, according to the ministry.

China’s overall vehicles sales grew 6.2 percent in July from a year earlier to 1.97 million vehicles, showing that the world’s largest auto market continues to rebound from the weakness it saw in April and May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said, according to Reuters.

In June, vehicle sales volume rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier. It was down 2.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively in April and May.

In the first seven months of the year, sales grew 4.1 percent from the same period last year to 15.3 million vehicles, the association said at a briefing in Beijing.

Analysts and company officials attributed the relatively strong sales last month in part to higher incentive levels.

“We’re losing a bit of steam in basic demand, but incentives are giving the market some support,” said James Chao, Shanghai-based Asia-Pacific chief of consultancy IHS Markit Automotive.

In January, CAAM predicted sales would rise 5 percent this year, slowing from 13.7 percent in 2016, citing the rollback of a tax incentive for small-engine cars and economic pressures.