[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Kim Hyun-jung] During the Spring Festival (Chunje, the Chinese Lunar New Year) in China, Mr. Xu Chang (alias), who returned to his hometown in Hunan Province, finally found an electric vehicle charging station on a hillside after a long search. Only after about 40 minutes of charging was he able to continue his journey. He lamented, "Charging is really inconvenient in my hometown," adding, "There are almost no charging facilities in the neighborhood, and it takes two days to fully charge at home."
According to the local Chinese economic media outlet, Jiyil Caijing, on the 25th, many regions in the provinces have recently been suffering from a shortage of electric vehicle charging stations during the Spring Festival holiday. This is because electric vehicle owners returning to their hometowns from urban areas all flock to charging stations at the same time.
The Hunan Provincial Highway Traffic Police forecasted that during this year's Spring Festival period, vehicle traffic between Hunan and Guangdong will reach about 5.3 million vehicles, an increase of approximately 6% compared to the previous year. This accounts for 30% of the total traffic volume in Hunan Province.
Electric vehicle charging stations across China are not only significantly insufficient compared to the number of vehicles in operation but also unevenly distributed. According to data released by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, from January to December last year, the number of charging stations in China increased by an estimated 2,593,000 units, representing a growth rate of 91.6% compared to the previous year. However, 71.3% of all charging stations are concentrated in 10 regions: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Hubei, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Fujian.
The media pointed out, "The shortage of charging infrastructure is a serious issue, especially to promote new energy vehicles in rural areas," noting that "in county-level cities under Hunan Province, which has 15 towns, there are only six public charging stations in total."
Meanwhile, electric vehicles are rapidly becoming widespread in China. According to the automotive market research firm LMC Automotive, global new car sales increased by 4% in China last year compared to the previous year, and electric vehicles accounted for 19% of total vehicle sales. This is higher than Europe, where emission regulations are strict, at 11%. During the same period, the electric vehicle sales share in the United States was only 5.8%.
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