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Getting Charged in China Is a Challenge
Every year, Chinese take to the roads during the Golden Week holiday that starts Oct. 1, basking in the early autumn weather and the lack of highway toll charges on those seven, gloriously work-free days. Traffic jams have become more common as car ownership has climbed. But this year saw a jam of a different kind: queues to recharge electric vehicles.
One driver interviewed on state TV said she spent four hours lining up at an EV charging station at a highway service area in southern China. Competition for a charging plug was so fierce that she didn’t dare go to the bathroom for fear of losing her spot. The journey ended up taking double what it normally would and her situation went viral, with drivers moaning on social media about similar experiences.
EV adoption in China has been so successful that the infrastructure can’t keep up. The charging stations on China’s highways racked up 1.43 million kilowatt hours on Oct. 1 alone, four times the volume of an ordinary, non-holiday day.
The country already has the world’s biggest EV charging network, with more than 1 million public charge points, and the number of new charging stations surged by a whopping 72% in September alone. The problem is that electric car sales have climbed even faster, with almost 7 million new-energy vehicles plying China’s roads as of last month.
Charging posts aren’t always in the places where they’re most needed, either, with just 0.5% of all points located on highways, versus about 3% of gas stations. That’s an issue for a nation really starting to embrace the road trip. The construction of charging infrastructure hasn’t always followed demand, meaning you may be able to find a charge point in some remote corner of Tibet, but have to queue in Shanghai, where about 30% of all cars are electric or new energy-powered. The whiz-bang new battery swap stations being pushed by companies like China’s Nio and Geely — where you drive in and your EV’s battery is changed automatically — aren’t nearly widespread enough yet to help ease the congestion.
Mindful of its carefully crafted image as a global leader in EVs, Beijing is pushing the construction of charging infrastructure with tax breaks and subsidies, aiming to have at least 60% of China’s highway-service centers equipped with charge points by 2025. Local governments across the nation have been told to come up with detailed action plans for expanding their charging networks.
Until then, EV drivers have to plan their journeys wisely. Even on the road from Beijing to Shanghai — a 1,200-kilometer (746 mile) journey — EV drivers need to be sure their car can go as far as 98 kilometers between charging spots in some stretches, and then, each service area only has on average four plugs.
That, or don’t get rid of your gas guzzler just yet.
Before You Go
Foxconn, the largest assembler of iPhones, unveiled its first EVs on Monday, a milestone that could boost the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer’s credentials as a serious bidder for Apple’s secretive automotive project. The concept cars, which are pretty futuristic looking, will be built by Foxconn for automotive customers rather than sold under its own brand. Taiwan’s Yulon Motor will be the first up, with an electric sedan set to retail for less than $35,700. Building the Apple car is the ultimate prize for every aspiring EV manufacturer and Foxconn’s good relationship with the U.S. consumer-electronics giant is definitely a plus.
"easy" - Google News
October 18, 2021 at 05:30PM
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Buying an EV in China Is Easy. Charging It Is a Different Story - Bloomberg
"easy" - Google News
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