(Bloomberg) -- China National Offshore Oil Corp. may build a network of battery-changing stations for electric cars in China, the world’s second-biggest automobile market.

Cnooc Group is considering the plan after the company invested 5 billion yuan ($732 million) in July for a stake in closely held Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Co., a mainland battery maker for electric vehicles, Shan Lianwen, director of corporate strategy at China’s third-largest oil producer, said in an interview today.


“It’s just an idea at the moment. We have not carried out a feasibility study,” he said. If oil goes over $80 a barrel for “a long period,” discouraging the use of gasoline, the idea could prove feasible, Shan said. Benchmark oil in New York has risen 76 percent this year to more than $78 a barrel.

China has supported automakers’ investments in alternative- energy vehicles to curb oil imports, reduce pollution and to help the local industry challenge General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. overseas. Chery Automobile Co., China’s largest maker of own-brand cars, will start selling its first plug-in electric model around June next year.

“Electric cars are unlikely to prove popular for at least five years in China,” said Vivien Chan, a transport analyst at SinoPac Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. “There are questions marks over whether the technology is mature and if the infrastructure needed is in place. The petrol engine will rule for sometime to come,” she said.