China: Building more charging facilities to promote wider use of NEVs

The report on the work of the Chinese government of 2020, delivered by Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang on May 22, 2020, emphasized that China will expand effective investment. The report also said: Priority will be given to new infrastructure and new urbanization initiatives and major projects, which not only boost consumption and benefit the people, but also facilitate structural adjustments and enhance the sustainability of growth. Specifically, efforts will be made mainly in the following three areas: First, we will step up the construction of new types of infrastructure. We will develop next-generation information networks and expand 5G applications. We will build more charging facilities and promote wider use of new-energy automobiles. We will stimulate new consumer demand and promote industrial upgrading.

In this year's report, the State Council pointed out that the potential of China's domestic demand is enormous. We will deepen supply-side structural reform, focus our efforts on improving the people's wellbeing, and boost consumption and expand investment in a mutually reinforcing way.

And China will expand effective investment. This year, 3.75 trillion yuan of special local government bonds will be issued, a 1.6 trillion yuan increase over last year. The proportion of special bonds that can be used as project capital will be raised, and 600 billion yuan will be earmarked for investment in the central government budget.

As an emerging industry, NEV is one the seven key strategic industries in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). NEVs can relieve pressure from energy shortage, improve the environment, advance regional economic development and industrial transfer, and accelerate the upgrading of traditional auto industry and equipment manufacturing. According to the data released by CPCA (China Passenger Car Association), China’s NEV industry, currently, has entered into a period of rapid development, with a total NEV sales of 1.064 million units, up 4.64% year-on-year.

With the further development of the auto market, the development of NEVs is expected to accelerate. However, due to the incomplete charging infrastructures, some local authorities have introduced corresponding subsidies to promote the construction of the facilities.