Environmental pollution is a serious threat to human existence, and the prime objective of governments is to decrease carbon emissions in each sector of the economy. New energy vehicles (NEVs) have the potential to alleviate the severity of significant environmental pollution and climate change concerns. However, despite government efforts, the market share of NEVs is still in the nascent stage compared to that of traditional vehicles. This study empirically investigates the role of environmental concerns (ENC), green purchasing behavior (GPB), and environmental attitudes (ENT) in NEV adoption intentions to decrease environmental pollution in the transportation sector. For this purpose, data were collected from 465 NEV consumers through face-to-face surveys in ten Chinese cities through purposive sampling. The PLS-SEM econometric approach was used to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed the significant positive impact of ENC, GPB, and EAT on the adoption intentions of NEVs. The EAT and GPB also have a strong mediating role in the relationship between ENC and the adoption intentions of NEVs, demonstrating that the ENC strongly enhances the adoption intentions of NEVs through EAT and GPB. Moreover, the study also found a strong positive impact of perceived knowledge, risk, and value of NEVs on the adoption intentions of NEVs. Educating people about the usefulness of improving environmental quality can enhance the adoption of NEVs in China. Moreover, TV shows and social media reports on the environmental benefits of NEVs can also encourage their adoption.