As environmental problems become more serious, carbon dioxide emission from vehicles deserves attention from the global economies as it is the main cause of air pollution. Although the Chinese government formulated a series of policies for promoting electric vehicles, fuel vehicles still dominate the auto market. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aims to explore the factors that may influence electric vehicles purchase intention of people in China. The findings in this study show that attitude towards buying electric vehicles, subjective norms, and environmental knowledge positively affect the electric vehicles purchase intention of people. Meanwhile, environmental concern mediated the relationship between environmental knowledge, subjective norms, collectivism, perceived behavioral control and electric vehicles purchase intention; while attitude towards green advertising moderated the relationship between environmental knowledge and electric vehicles purchase intention. In addition, female consumers were found to have higher electric vehicle purchase intention than male consumers. Implications of the research findings are discussed.