The coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province, will build six new charging and battery-switch stations and 75 charging piles with a total investment of 50 million yuan ($7.64 million) in 2016, to promote new energy buses and green travel in the city, according to the city's transport commission on March 1.

The commission also announced to continue promoting the supporting infrastructure construction for the five stations in operation and equipment testing for the other two under construction.

Qingdao now has more than 1,700 new energy buses, including 1,388 electric ones running on more than 50 routes across the city.

A transport official said the commission will work out a plan for new energy buses this year to improve operation efficiency, as well as build a monitoring platform.

He also added that the city will further explore integrating quick charging, online charging and hybrid power for new energy buses to mitigate the overreliance on charging stations.