The number of electric vehicle chargers in China, which has the world’s largest EV charging infrastructure, has surged 53.5% year over year to 17.3 million.
Data from the National Energy Administration showed on Thursday that the number of public charging facilities has reached 4.32 million units, a 37.8% increase from the same period a year ago.
Among these, the total rated power of public charging piles has reached 196 gigawatts, with an average power of 45.48 kW.
Privately owned facilities have soared 59.6% to 13 million charging points.
The total installed electricity capacity for private charging facilities reached 115 gigavolt-amperes (GVA).
China’s economic 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) set clean energy as a priority.
In the past five years, the country has developed a network with a goal of two charging piles for each five electric vehicles in the country.
Data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reveals that the double digit increase in EV charging infrastructure is in line with production figures in August.
Last month, the production and sales of new energy vehicles (NEV) in China reached 1.39 million vehicles each, representing year over year increases of 27.4% and 26.8%, respectively.
Furthermore, sales of new energy vehicles accounted for 48.8% of the total sales of new vehicles.
While the growth rate of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) slowed down, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) jumped 40.5% from the same period a year ago — totaling 908,000 units. PHEVs accounted for nearly half, at 487,000 units.
From January to August, the cumulative production and sales of NEVs in China reached 9.6 million vehicles each, 37.3% and 36.7% above August 2024, respectively.
According to a S&P Global report published in May, China’s charging infrastructure is advancing rapidly in charging power and charging rates, while companies are unveiling advanced battery designs and liquid-cooled SiC systems to manage heat.
In January, XPeng and Volkswagen Group China signed a memorandum of understanding, expanding their cooperation to jointly build more than 20,000 charging piles creating “one of the largest super-fast charging networks in China.”
Earlier this year, BYD launched its Super e-Platform, with batteries achieving 10C charging (full charge in about 6 minutes) with 1000A current, supporting 1 MW charging and 2 km range per second.
Shortly after, Geely-backed Zeekr Group announced a 1.2 MW fully liquid-cooled ultrafast charger at the China EV10 Forum. The charger evolved from 360 kW to 1.2 MW.
Tech giant Huawei also unveiled a 1.5 MW fast-charging system, capable of 2400A current for dual-gun use, potentially charging a 300 kWh battery in 15 minutes.
Last week, the world’s leading battery maker CATL introduced two new batteries under the new Shenxing Pro platform, adding advanced fast-charging and long-range capabilities — up to 122 kWh and 758 km of range.
The batteries can charge from 10% to 80% in 10—15 minutes.
CATL is also developing a battery swap network in China and preparing to introduce its battery swapping technology in Europe, following Shanghai-based EV maker Nio‘s move.
Nio currently holds the largest network of battery-swap stations in mainland China. As of Thursday, and according to its website, the company operates 3,497 battery swap stations, with 27,142 charging stalls.
In March, Nio announced its battery swap network would operate in parallel with CATL‘s, with Firefly’s subsequent newly developed models using the battery giant’s Choco-Swap technology standard.
