China builds world’s largest network of charging facilities for electric vehicles

China has built the largest network of charging facilities for electric vehicles in the world, with more than 2.22 million charging stations as of September, up 56.8 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance.

A new energy vehicle is charged at the Jinmenhu New Energy Vehicle Integrated Service Center in north China's Tianjin, Aug. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Ran)

The country added 237,000 public charging piles for electric cars in the first nine months of this year, bringing the total number to over 1.04 million by the end of September, up 164.5 percent and 72.3 percent from a year earlier, respectively.

Meanwhile, private car owners have added more than 1.02 million charging piles as of the end of September, a year-on-year increase of 178.5 percent.

China’s battery swap stations also saw rapid growth, with the number increasing from 555 at the end of last year to 890 by the end of September, thanks to the country’s efforts to advance the construction of battery swap infrastructure. Starting from the second half of this year, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Energy Administration have been piloting the battery swap model nationwide.

NIO, a leading Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has built a total of 546 battery swap stations in China as of Oct. 20, said Qin Lihong, the company’s co-founder.