As the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are approaching, some new energy vehicle owners are discussing self-driving travel, and the problem of charging is one of the focus topics. In previous years, the news of "queuing for 4 hours to charge for 1 hour" and "don't dare to turn on the air conditioner in traffic jams" made many car owners a little worried.
According to statistics from relevant departments, as of June this year, the number of new energy vehicles in the country has reached 10.01 million. According to relevant national plans and forecasts, by 2025, the number of new energy vehicles in the country will exceed 25 million; by 2030, it will reach 80 million. With so many new energy vehicles, when can we travel with confidence?
Long-distance travel needs cannot be effectively met
Data show that as of June this year, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure nationwide was 3.918 million units.
During the interview, owners of new energy vehicles in many cities said that the charging piles in urban areas can basically meet the needs of daily commuting. The "Monitoring Report on Charging Infrastructure in China's Major Cities" compiled by the China Urban Planning and Design Institute and other units shows that in 2021, the average density of public charging posts in major cities across the country will be 21.5 units per square kilometer. Compared with 2020, the average charging time of public piles in 24 cities was shortened by 6.3 minutes.
However, while new energy vehicles can generally "get home", demands such as "getting out of the city" and "getting down to the countryside" need to be further met.
Data show that as of now, 13,374 charging piles have been built in 3,102 of the 6,618 expressway service areas across the country, which basically meet the current charging requirements for new energy vehicles. However, the relevant person in charge of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport said that these charging piles are mainly concentrated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other eastern regions, and the coverage rate in the western and northeastern regions is relatively low. In addition, the construction of charging infrastructure for ordinary national and provincial trunk lines and rural highways has not yet started in an all-round way, which cannot effectively meet the needs of long-distance travel of new energy vehicles.
The charging network along the highway will be basically formed in 2025
As early as 2014, the Ministry of Transport issued relevant documents to deploy "adding gas and charging facilities in combination with the scale and development needs of new energy vehicle users". In 2021, the ministry will promote the green travel "continuity project" as a fact that transportation is closer to people's livelihood.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Transport, the National Energy Administration, the State Grid Corporation of China, and China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. jointly issued the Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Charging Infrastructure along Highways (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing three-stage work goals. : Strive to provide basic charging services in expressway service areas in areas other than alpine and high-altitude areas across the country by the end of 2022; by the end of 2023, qualified general national and provincial trunk highway service areas (stations) can provide basic charging services; to Before the end of 2025, the charging infrastructure of expressways and ordinary national and provincial trunk highway service areas (stations) will be further optimized and optimized, and rural roads will be effectively covered.
According to the "Plan", in principle, the charging infrastructure or parking spaces reserved for construction and installation conditions in each expressway service area shall not be less than 10% of the parking spaces for small passenger vehicles.
The relevant person in charge of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport said that "fixed facilities are the main body, mobile facilities are supplementary, important nodes are fully covered, operation and maintenance services are good, and people's travel is guaranteed". After the basic formation and improvement of the charging infrastructure network along the road, the new Energy car owners can rest assured to run long distances at high speeds.