China is installing public charging stations at quite a clip
New data shows that the country is installed about 10,000 public charging stations per month.
According to data released last month by the China Electric Charging Infrastructure Promotion, as of the end of July 2020, members of the Alliance reported that 566,000 public charging stations had been installed and put into service across the country, among which 326,000 are AC, 240,000 are DC, while 488 come equipped with both AC and DC capabilities.
From
August 2019 to July 2020, the number of new public charging stations installed
per month averaged just about 10,000 units.
In
July 2020, the total charging power of all stations across China had reached
some 670 million kWh, representing a year on year increase of 52.4 percent. The
figure rose by 70 million kWh or 11.6 per cent from the prior month.
Charging facilities installed across China totaled 1.341 million units as of the end of July 2020, representing a year-on-year growth of 27.6 percent. As of July, eight operators across the country each managed more than 10,000 stations:
- Qingdao TGood EVC Co., Ltd. with 163,000 units,
- Star Charge with 133,000 units,
- State Grid Corporation of China with 88,000
units, - ykccn.com with 45,000 units,
- EV Power with 25,000 units,
- Anyo Charging with 19,000 units,
- Potevio with 14,000 units; and
- Car Energy Net with 14,000 units.
The
eight operators accounted for 88.6 percent of all of the country’s installed
charging stations. Smaller operators took the remaining 11.4 percent share.
According
to data collected from 1.124 million cars manufactured by the Alliance’s
assembled vehicle manufacturer members, 349,000 or 31.1 percent do not have a
dedicated charging station. The key reasons include the car owners’ decision to
provide the charging station on his own, the installation of charging
facilities not being allowed by the property manager and the lack of fixed
parking spots in the residential community where the car owner lives.
By
region, the installation of public stations remained overly concentrated in ten
provinces and directly administered municipalities, including Guangdong,
Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hebei, Hubei, Fujian, Shanghai and Beijing,
with the ten areas making up 73.1 percent of total installations.
Buses
are the main users of charging stations, followed by passenger vehicles. Other
types of vehicles such as sanitation trucks, cargo vehicles and taxis account
for a relatively small proportion.
Given
the fact that the growth in the installation of public stations is far lower
than that of electric cars, a number of Chinese provinces and municipalities
plan to speed up the construction of a local charging infrastructure. To cite a
few examples, Jiangsu province plans to invest some 370 million yuan (approx.
US$53.2 million) this year to expand its charging station network. Beijing
proposed a plan to build at least 50,000 new charging stations and some 100
battery swapping stations in 2020.
