Tesla To Modify Charging Technology In China

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA said it will modify its vehicles produced for sale in China to comply with charging standards there.

"Solving the charging problem is a top priority," Tesla's general manager in China Zhu Xiaotong said in a translated blog post Monday.

Tesla said it will cooperate with the Chinese government in drafting new charging standards, which haven't so far materialized.

Tesla charging technology's incompatibility with that of other electric car manufacturers, is "of public concern," Tesla China said Monday.

The company has about 1,000 charging stations in China currently and promised that "in the future" new production vehicles will meet emerging national standards.

Tesla sold fewer than 2,500 cars in China during 2014, or less than half its goal, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk told shareholders earlier this month that sales in China are improving.

"While we still have work to do in China, we saw encouraging signs of a return to growth in orders there as well," Musk said.

The company reportedly fired 30 percent of its staff in China earlier this year amid disappointing sales that were laid at least in part to a lack of access to charging stations in China.