China is planning to accelerate the construction of charging facilities for new energy vehicles (NEVs) and optimize policies for purchasing and using NEV, as reported by Reuters on May 5. Following a regular meeting, the State Council announced that improved charging infrastructure would help unlock the potential of rural consumption and support growth of rural tourism. State media reported that the meeting emphasized the need to construct charging facilities “moderately ahead of the curve” and call on automotive enterprises to extend their sales and services networks to rural areas. The meeting also encouraged colleges to train maintenance technicians for rural areas.

The Chinese government is crafting policies to boost auto consumption and support modernization to shore up the slowing NEV market, according to Xin Guobin, vice minister at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Improving the accessibility to charging services could address the major concerns of potential NEV buyers. The number of public and private charging facilities in China hit 5.2 million units as of 2022, almost double from the previous year. Nevertheless, most of them are located in developed areas, while the infrastructure in counties, highway service centers, and national and provincial trunk roads still lags behind. To rectify this imbalance, China laid out a target last year to build charging stations sufficient for 20 million electric vehicles by 2025, offering financial subsidies and favorable banking policies to charging station developers. By the end of 2022, China had about 13.1m NEVs.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/china-will-speed-up-construction-charging-facilities-evs-state-media-2023-05-05/

https://www.caixin.com/2023-05-06/102043390.html

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202302/15/WS63ec1e17a31057c47ebaeccf.html

https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/china-infrastructure-plan-ev