China's electric vehicle charging infrastructure is being expanded rapidly this year, with companies and local governments investingbns as the government targets a strong rebound in new energy vehicle sales.
According to local reports there were more than 1.24m electric vehicle charging piles in the country at the end of 2019, including 531,000 public charging piles and 712,000 private ones.
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The network is expected to be expanded to 5m by the end of 2020 – equivalent to one for each electric vehicle in use in the country.
China plans to issue CNY3.75 trillion (US$529bn) in special local government bonds this year to develop high tech infrastructure across the country with the roll out of 5G and EV recharging networks key priorities.
Sales of new energy vehicles, mostly electric and plug in hybrid vehicles, declined by 4% to 1.206m units last year from 1.256m in 2018, reflecting a sharp decline in the second half of the year after the government cut subsidies in June 2019.
The government has since delayed further cuts in incentives while many local governments have cut restrictions on the issue of new licence plates for these vehicles.
The long term growth prospects for China's electric vehicle market are clear, with Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicting there will be 162m in circulation in the country by 2040.
The State Grid Corp of China, a state-owned electric utility firm, has invited 51 companies to help it roll out an interconnected EV recharging infrastructure across the country and promote the sustainable development of EV charging services.
State Grid, along with other mainstream national recharging infrastructure firms including Qingdao TGOOD Electric, Star Charge and China Southern Power Grid, previously set up a joint company called Uniev focused on EV-related services.
Beijing currently has the most charging piles of any city in China, with more than 205,100 in use at present, which provided around 1.2bn kilowatt-hours of power to electric vehicles last year.
Electric vehicle manufacturers also have contributed to expanding the country's recharging infrastructure, including Tesla, which, in May, said it would install an additional 4,000 supercharging piles by the end of 2020, adding to the exiting 2,500 supercharging piles and 2,400 destination charging piles that were already in place in the country.
