CHINA plans to upgrade its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure by building more than 100,000 ultra-fast charging stations by 2027 to address range anxiety, according to a new policy blueprint. Local authorities are required to formulate clear construction plans for charging facilities in highway service areas, prioritizing the upgrade of stations with utilization rates exceeding 40% during major holidays, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a notice issued Tuesday. The notice highlights the urgent need to modernize the country’s charging network as automakers increasingly introduce EVs equipped with 800V high-voltage platforms, which demand ultra-fast charging — typically enabling a full charge in 10 to 30 minutes using 2C or higher performance batteries. As of December 2024, China had 31.4 million EVs, accounting for nearly 9% of all vehicles on the road. According to the latest figures from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), the number of charging piles reached 14.4 million as of May 2025, equating to one charging point for every 2.2 EVs. However, among all public charging piles, high-power units with outputs exceeding 240kW constitute only 6.7%. The NDRC also called for the development of smart charging stations that encourage off-peak charging through dynamic pricing and support integration with solar power and energy storage systems to reduce strain on the national power grid. To encourage stable, long-term business models, the agency recommends offering charging station operators land use leases of at least 10 years. It also supports the use of special-purpose local government bonds to finance high-power charging projects. The notice emphasized that high-power charging networks built by EV companies should, in principle, open to all users without discrimination. Li Auto, a major domestic EV manufacturer, recently announced plans to operate 4,000 supercharging stations by the end of this year. As of last month, the company had already installed over 15,000 high-power charging piles. (SD-Agencies) | 