BMW has joined the increasing number of car makers to gain confidence in China's electric car market.

With 18 million passenger vehicles sold last year, China's automobile market is indeed huge. Having sold 2.4 million more sold in the US, the market is ten times that of India, which has about the same population as China, according to VentureBeat.

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Unfortunately, the sales of electric cars have been through quite a bitter history. In 2013, only 17.600 plug-in vehicles, mostly buses and taxis, have made its way to Chinese roads.

In spite of this setback, the size of the Chinese market signals a huge potential for the electric car industry. Furthermore, the government has begun a solid move towards solving China's pollution woes.

According to Bloomberg, BMW expects China to be the top market for "electromobility" within a few years. Karsten Engel, head of BMW in China, said it could take a maximum of five years for China to reach that point.

As of now, China is working fast to expand its charging network, which remains one of the main barriers to the usage of electric vehicles. Power firm State Grid, Tesla, other private corporations are now planning their own charging network expansion throughout the country.

The public charging points built through the joint efforts of BMW and State Grid will not only be able to accommodate BMW's i3 and i8 electric cars, but also plug-in cars from other Chinese companies such as SAIC Motor and BYD. Although they will not be compatible with Tesla cars, Tesla itself has vowed to construct its own Supercharger network and charging posts across China.

Engel also said their company will help supply plug-in vehicles to China. Other companies will be pitching in for their share of supplies, too. BMW expects to start selling its i3 in China beginning September 2014.

The i3 and i8 will initially be sold through seven dealerships. However, because of lack of supply, BMW will limit the sales to only 1,000 units in the first year.

BMW is set to produce about 20,000 i3 units by the end of this year. Most of the units will be shipped to the US and Europe.

BMW will sell a total of 400,000 cars in China this year. Electric vehicles still make up a small chunk of that number, but with more automakers betting on the Chinese market, China will soon be able to reach that five-year target.