China to hasten expansion of public EV charging stations
China wants to speed the construction of a national network of stations to charge electric vehicles to reach a goal of 5 million EVs on the roads by 2020, the Xinhua news agency said.
A shortage of charging stations has long been a roadblock to boosting sales by EV makers, from domestic company BYD Co. to U.S. rival Tesla Motors Inc., as well as an obstacle to government plans to rein in high levels of pollution.
China has made some progress on car-charging infrastructure but its approach has lacked coordination, said National Energy Administration deputy chief Zheng Zhajie.
"It's like with phone chargers, it's a bit all over the place," he told Xinhua for a story published Sunday. "Everyone has a pile of different chargers and a pile of batteries. Now we're trying to improve things, moving towards unifying and standardizing."
China aims to equip at least one in 10 public car parking lots with an electric car charging station, he said, adding that the State Council soon would issue guidance for the infrastructure rollout.
Last week, China cut taxes on small-engine cars to revive industry sales, which have lagged as the economy slowed.
But one bright spot this year has been sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids, which have almost quadrupled in one year. The government sees electric cars as China's best shot at closing a competitive gap with global rivals who have a 100-year head start in traditional combustion engines.
China has set aggressive targets for vehicle fuel efficiency that will grow gradually stricter until 2020, when its standards will exceed those of the U.S. and roughly match Japan.
The government has also offered tax cuts for green vehicles and proposed extending subsidies, mostly for domestic producers, to help automakers meet the targets.
China has made some progress on car-charging infrastructure but its approach has lacked coordination, said National Energy Administration deputy chief Zheng Zhajie.
"It's like with phone chargers, it's a bit all over the place," he told Xinhua for a story published Sunday. "Everyone has a pile of different chargers and a pile of batteries. Now we're trying to improve things, moving towards unifying and standardizing."
China aims to equip at least one in 10 public car parking lots with an electric car charging station, he said, adding that the State Council soon would issue guidance for the infrastructure rollout.
Last week, China cut taxes on small-engine cars to revive industry sales, which have lagged as the economy slowed.
But one bright spot this year has been sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids, which have almost quadrupled in one year. The government sees electric cars as China's best shot at closing a competitive gap with global rivals who have a 100-year head start in traditional combustion engines.
China has set aggressive targets for vehicle fuel efficiency that will grow gradually stricter until 2020, when its standards will exceed those of the U.S. and roughly match Japan.
The government has also offered tax cuts for green vehicles and proposed extending subsidies, mostly for domestic producers, to help automakers meet the targets.
