[Correspondent Diary] Rapid Growth of Chinese Electric Vehicles, Charging Stations Overloaded

China's Electric Vehicle Sales Reach 2.157 Million... Surpassing This Year's 2 Million Target in 9 Months
Drivers Frustrated by Charging Station Shortage, Concerns Over Infrastructure Expansion and Environmental Issues Like Battery Recycling

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] China's electric vehicle and new energy vehicle market is experiencing explosive growth.

According to the official announcement by China's Ministry of Commerce, from January to September, sales of electric vehicles and other new energy vehicles in China totaled 2,157,000 units. Last year, the annual sales volume of new energy vehicles in China was 1,109,000 units.

Photo by Tencent Capture

This year, China's annual sales target for new energy vehicles is 2 million units. This means the annual sales target was achieved in just nine months. Analysts within China are suggesting that if the current trend continues, sales could exceed 3 million units this year.

Sales in September alone also hit a record high. Last month, new energy vehicle sales totaled 357,000 units, a 1.5-fold increase compared to the same month last year.

The Chinese government announced last November that it plans to increase the share of new energy vehicle sales to 20% of total new car sales by 2025 and replace all public transportation vehicles with new energy vehicles by 2035. Considering that China's annual new car sales were 26 million units (based on 2019 data), it is estimated that sales of electric vehicles and other new energy vehicles will reach 5 million units by 2025. Given the sales pace, the goal of achieving a 20% share of new energy vehicles by 2025 is likely to be reached ahead of schedule. There are also optimistic forecasts that 7 million of the new cars sold in China in 2025 will be new energy vehicles.

The rapid increase in China's new energy vehicle sales can be attributed to support measures for new energy vehicles. For example, in Hainan Province, incentives are provided based on vehicle purchase price to encourage the purchase of electric and other new energy vehicles. Hainan Province offers subsidies of 6,000 yuan for vehicles under 100,000 yuan, 8,000 yuan for vehicles priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan, and 100,000 yuan for vehicles priced above 200,000 yuan. In addition to subsidies, various benefits such as discounts on parking, insurance, and toll fees are provided.

The problem is that charging stations are severely insufficient compared to the explosive demand. The issue of new energy vehicle charging became controversial during the National Day holiday period (October 1?7). The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on the charging station problem under the headline "4 hours waiting, 1 hour charging, the awkward outing of electric vehicles." At that time, an electric vehicle driver complained that a trip that normally takes 8 hours took 16 hours because many electric vehicles crowded each charging station, forcing long queues to charge. This reflects a temporal mismatch between the rapidly growing electric vehicle market and the supporting infrastructure. Such contradictions are likely to become a daily reality and could negatively impact electric vehicle sales in China.

China's Sina Finance reported that if charging difficulties are not resolved, electric vehicle sales could be severely affected, emphasizing the need for qualitative changes in infrastructure support such as land use planning and road facility construction.

It also added that environmental costs such as disposal of used electric vehicle batteries will increase, and discussions on battery recycling and disposal of used batteries are necessary.