Zhejiang announces plan to upgrade NEV charging facilities

Zhejiang Province government has announced a three-year plan to upgrade charging facilities for new-energy vehicles in rural areas, with investment of more than 30 billion yuan (US$4.16 billion) in its power distribution network. Here are some highlights.

The official document, Zhejiang Province's Action Plan for Improving the High-quality Charging Infrastructure Network System and Promoting New-Energy Vehicles in Rural Areas (2023-25), states the province will build more than 2.3 million charging piles across 900,000 villages, including 120,000 public charging piles in 20,000 villages.

By 2025, it is expected that the annual sales of green cars will reach more than 1 million units, and over 500 new-energy vehicle maintenance service outlets will be established in the province.

Zhejiang will expand its infrastructure network from "two districts" (residential and business districts) and "three centers" (commercial, industrial and leisure centers) to suburbs and villages, with the goal of providing access to a charging station within 5-minute urban and 30-minute rural circles.

The government is also encouraging residents to apply for personal charging piles.

Newly built residential communities, shopping malls, office buildings and parking lots have been required to include charging facilities on their sites. The plan stipulates that 100 percent of new residential communities should have access to charging facilities. Furthermore, the government is also encouraging established residential communities to install charging facilities in designated parking spaces.

Thus far, all expressway service stations within Zhejiang Province have been built with charging facilities. As per the plan, 20 percent of all parking spaces in these service stations will be allocated to charging piles.

Zhejiang is about to steadily promote the construction of charging facilities on suburban and countryside roads, transportation hub stations, expressway entrances and exits, and gas stations.

Meanwhile, an official service platform that guides facility planning and layout, construction and operation, fire safety, verification, and coordination will be developed to manage and supervise all charging piles across Zhejiang Province.

Smart phone applications would be launched to provide services including locating a charging pile, navigation, making an appointment and payment. The applications are expected to link more big data from facilities within the Yangtze River Delta region, offering cross-province services to electric-vehicle users.

The plan emphasizes on the quality and safety of batteries and charging facilities. In the event of a fire or explosion, responsibility will be thoroughly investigated in accordance with relevant laws. As for charging stations, government departments will strictly monitor the construction to guarantee public safety.

Residents are highly encouraged to purchase fire-fighting appliances for private charging facilities. Leakage protectors and grounding equipment will be allocated to facilities. Unauthorized charging piles or legal charging behaviors are banned.

In order to stimulate consumer demand, the Zhejiang government has made a number of policy adjustments to promote the purchase of electric cars. These include offering coupons aimed at electric cars, reducing the down payment ratio and loan interest rates, extending the repayment period, and increasing preferential subsidies for specific groups such as top-notch talent, high-level craftsmen among others.

According to the plan, new-energy vehicles will be allowed to park in public charging parking spaces for free for the first two hours of each day (including charging time). Additionally, the peak-valley electricity price policy will continue to incentivize users to charge their cars during off-peak periods.

Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, considers itself a leader in China's drive to put clean-energy vehicles on the roads.

When the city initiated limits on issuance of new car license plates in 2014, all-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen-fueled cars were exempt.

Since 2016, Hangzhou has exempted green cars from existing traffic restrictions, with the aim of encouraging wider adoption of new-energy vehicles by the public.

In 2016, there were about 22,131 green vehicles in the city, with some 500 charging facilities. In 2021, the number of green cars reached 300,000 and there were 20,163 charging piles citywide. It is forecasted that by 2026 there will be up to 600,000 electric vehicles operating in the city, and the number of charging facilities will skyrocket to 90,000.