Around 65% of electric cars sold in France will be eligible for a state bonus scheme that is set to favour cars made in Europe, sources close to the matter said on Thursday.

France plans to announce the list of car models eligible for the new bonus on Friday.

The government currently offers buyers a cash incentive of between 5,000 and 7,000 euros for eligible models at a cost of 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) per year.

In the absence of cheap European-made EVs, a third of all incentives are going to consumers buying EVs made in China, a finance ministry source has said. The trend has helped spur a surge in imports and a growing competitive gap with domestic producers.

The scheme will therefore be revamped from Dec. 15 to take into account the carbon emitted in a model's manufacturing process. Because Chinese industry generally relies heavily on coal-generated electricity, the criteria are likely to mean Chinese-made EVs do not qualify.

The Adema agency overseeing the process is assessing more than 500 EV models to potentially include in the scheme.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Jason Neely)