China reports sharp increase in EV charging facilities

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 8, 2024 shows new energy vehicles charging at a charging station in Changsha County, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The number of charging piles for electric vehicles (EV) in China reached 11.43 million as of the end of September this year, marking an increase of 49.6 percent from a year ago, latest government data showed.

Among them, around 3.33 million were public charging facilities while 8.1 million were private, according to National Energy Administration data.

Based on a total stock of 28.09 million registered new energy vehicles in the country at present, there is one charging pile for every 2.46 vehicles, the data showed.

In the first nine months of 2024, the country reported a net increase of 2.84 million charging piles, while the charging amount for vehicles totaled 66.67 billion kWh, up 12.4 percent year on year, the data showed.

The government agency said that the growing network of charging facilities is providing services across more highways in the country. At the same time, charging facilities in counties and towns were growing, having reached 417,000 units as of the end of September.