Individuals can purchase new-energy cars without participating in this year's first car license plate lottery, the Beijing car registration lottery office said on Tuesday.

The office has received 1,428 applications from people interested in buying new-energy vehicles for the first lottery, which will be held on Wednesday morning, according to the office. The quota was 1,666.

According to city regulations, if the application number is less than the car license plate quota number, potential buyers can purchase cars without entering the lottery.

Beijing introduced its vehicle license plate lottery system in 2011 to curb the growth rate of new automobiles, and it will hold vehicle license plate lotteries every two months this year.

In November, it announced that from 2014 through 2017, the number of new car license plates available in the capital city would be reduced to 150,000 a year, down from the current 240,000.

The authority said that 10,000 of the license plates will be allocated to new energy vehicles.

Cars that run on fuel were still the first choice for potential buyers. According to the car registration lottery office, more than 1.81 million applications for regular cars had been registered as of Feb 8 for this year's first lottery.