"Efficient governance, advanced technologies and a large group of consumers eager to enter the connected era may give China the lead in the worldwide race to build connected cars and future transport system," a report by the Swedish trade and investment council stated.

But China's road to future is not without bumps.

Many argue that the soaring number of new energy cars is the result of government subsidies, and quite a number of drivers still prefer going to gas stations after buying plug-in hybrid EVs or PHEVs.

"If that is indeed the case complying with our data collection, measures should be taken and the car owner's credit rating should be affected," EvData's Ding said.

He also appreciated that use of personal data may be a concern to some.

"While using data for future decision making on traffic optimization, we set collecting points on main roads instead of tracing individual vehicle movements too close to specific residential spots," he said.

Experts also pointed out that car rental can be more scientific and friendly if it uses a "handshake" feature, allowing a vehicle to be transferred between two customers on the fly. This in turn will save time looking for a parking place.

As for maintenance of shared vehicles, EvCard is introducing an appraisal system in which each customer can grade previous users, resulting in a reference for members' credit ratings.

Still, most experts remain positive about the future of EVs.

"The world needs a better way for people and goods to get around, and we believe autonomous, connected vehicles are an important component of the solution," Mark Schlissel, president of the University of Michigan, said.

Last year, he signed an investment deal with a Chinese firm to advance autonomous, connected vehicles and robotic technologies.

David Frey, a partner for Markets Strategy at KPMG in China, felt that companies recognized the unwavering commitment of the Chinese government to develope advanced new energy automobile manufacturing.

"We can expect that city-based experimentation with the infrastructure and business models required to support expansion of electric vehicles will be robust," Frey wrote in the latest issue of Insight, the journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.