China setting up more and better charging facilities to meet demand

With electric vehicles attracting wider attention nationwide, more charging facilities are being set up across the country.

In Taizhou, Jiangsu province, new charging stations were built next to existing substations to further optimize the allocation of electric power resource. They also help ensure the efficient operation of charging equipment and provide convenient services to electric vehicle users.

User's willingness to choose electric vehicles has increased significantly with an annual growth rate of 50 percent, according to State Grid Taizhou Power Supply Co. In order to cope with charging difficulties of some customers, the power company has launched the dual-station service mode, building charging stations on unused substation land, sharing land and electric power resources, and realizing efficient use of space and facilities.

The power supplier said that under this service mode, more power lines were provided to achieve the optimal allocation of electricity resources and efficient operation of the charging station by sharing the distribution resources of the substation.

Compared with traditional charging stations, the new model can provide abundant electric power and support the use of new fast-charging and battery replacement, enabling electric vehicles to be fully charged within 10-15 minutes or complete battery replacement within 3-5 minutes.

Compared with the construction of disorderly and scattered charging piles, the new model is expected to make reasonable use of the emergency spare capacity of the existing power grid without building additional substations, and maximize the efficiency of the existing power grid utilization.

Despite the rapid growth of China's charging infrastructure sector, challenges remain, such as inadequate layout, unbalanced structure, outdated technology of older charging piles, uneven service quality and inconsistent operations, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

Cui said some older charging piles averaged only about 100 kWh per month, highlighting the need to further develop a high-quality charging infrastructure to support the rapid growth of NEVs, particularly by upgrading old low-power-output alternating current (AC) piles and increasing high-power-output direct current fast charging stations.

Zhou Libo, deputy secretary-general of the electric transportation and energy storage branch of the China Electricity Council, said that the performance of power charging and swapping equipment needs to be improved, and further research is required in areas such as the power carrying capacity of distribution networks and the integration of solar power generation, power storage and charging processes.