China beats US 8-1 when it comes to charging electric vehicles
- The vast national EV charger roll-out in China means some provinces have more chargers than European nations
- Globally, there could be as many as 20 million public charging points installed by 2030
There are almost as many places to charge your electric vehicle (EV) in Beijing as there are in the entire United States.
China, the world’s biggest market for EVs, has about eight public chargers for each one in the US, according to the latest counts. That imbalance is likely to become more pronounced as China champions the technology spurring carmakers to pivot away from gas guzzlers and accelerates its roll-out of electric pumps, enlisting energy giants Royal Dutch Shell and BP along the way.
A new-energy vehicle development plan under consideration by Chinese authorities and intended to shape the sector through 2035 will set new goals for boosting the number of public and private chargers, a person familiar with the proposal said in September. The nation is said to be weighing a target for 60 per cent of all vehicles sold to run on electric motors by then.
All told, China’s electric fleet may swell to 162 million vehicles by 2040, according to forecasts by BloombergNEF.
“The availability of charging facilities has been rising pretty quickly,” said Jing Kai, deputy head of the Beijing unit at Qingdao TGOOD Electric Co, which has the country’s largest network of charging plugs. “The goal is to help EV users charge their cars wherever they go, making it as easy as buying a bottle of water.”