Cui Dongshu: Data from the China Automobile Association shows that the cumulative increase in private charging piles in 2024 is 3.02 million, a year-on-year increase of 36%.

Based on the analysis of data from the China Charging Alliance compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the total number of public charging piles reached 3.46 million in November 2024, with an increase of 69,000 compared to the previous month, a growth rate of 31% lower than the same period last year; the annual cumulative increase in public charging piles in 2024 was 734,000, a decrease of 11% compared to the same period last year. Currently, there are 8.89 million private charging piles, with an increase of 398,000 in November compared to the previous month, a growth rate of 91%; the annual cumulative increase of private charging piles in 2024 was 3.02 million, a growth rate of 36% compared to the same period last year. The average monthly charging for a public charging pile is 1503 kWh, an improvement from 1348 kWh in November last year. In recent years, China's charging infrastructure has developed rapidly and has built the world's largest, most comprehensive, and most diverse charging infrastructure system. According to calculations where 1 public charging pile equals 3 private charging piles, the ratio of electric vehicles to charging piles in the incremental market in China in 2024 has reached 1:1, far surpassing other countries by several times. Nevertheless, there are still issues with the current charging infrastructure, such as incomplete layout, insufficient rational structure, outdated charging pile technology, uneven services, and lack of standardized operations, which need to be improved urgently. The return rate of electric vehicles purchased in some lower-tier areas has increased. It is believed that with the continuous expansion of the scale, minor adjustments, and great potential for improvement in electric vehicles, the development of charging infrastructure will see significant progress. The result of the slightly advanced development of charging piles is the low utilization rate, leading to an overall deficit in the operation of charging facilities. Currently, the simple ratio between the incremental number of pure electric passenger cars and public charging piles is 1.5:1. Considering that each public charging pile serves at least three vehicles, the charging system for pure electric passenger cars is basically a 1:1 ratio, which is a relatively good proportion. In terms of the operation of charging companies, leading operators perform well. Guangqi Energy's average charging amount in November reached 7358 kWh, showing excellent performance every month. NIO's charging pile reached around 2388 kWh. In contrast, some older charging piles have an average charging amount of just over 100 kWh per month, while the monthly average charging amount of major charging companies is at the level of around 1,000 kWh, showing a huge gap in efficiency, spanning from several times to tens of times lower. Tesla's data remains stable each month, indicating good performance. In light of the rapid growth trend of new energy vehicles, especially electric vehicles, further construction of a high-quality charging infrastructure system, upgrading outdated AC low-power charging piles, and increasing the upgrading of high-power DC fast charging facilities are essential to better meet the needs of the public to purchase and use new energy vehicles, and to promote the transformation of green and low-carbon transportation and the construction of a modern infrastructure system. 1. Overall status of charging piles Charging infrastructure provides charging and battery-swapping services for electric vehicl...1) Production mode, focusing on self-owned asset operation, and cooperating with other operators and third-party platforms, including Star Charge (a subsidiary of Wanbang Digital), TeLaidian (Qingdao TGOOD Electric), Wanma Aichong (Zhejiang Wanma), Putian New Energy, Shanghai Yiwei Energy, Shenzhen Che Dianwang (Shenzhen Clou Electronics shares), etc. 2) Self-built charging pile network by grid companies, including State Grid (State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd.) and Southern Power Grid (Southern Power Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd.). 3) Large automotive group self-built charging network, including Tesla, NIO, Xiaopeng, SAIC Anyue, GAC Energy, etc., some of which may outsource the construction and operation of charging network to asset-type charging operators and third-party charging service providers. 4) Third-party charging network operators, such as Yunkuaichong, Xiaojuchongdian (a subsidiary of Didi Chuxing), Shenzhen Huineng, etc., mainly use a light asset model, focusing on the large long-tail market of charging piles, providing Saas services to regional operators, essentially acting as IT service providers.The domestic charging pile operation industry faces four major competitive barriers: funding, site, power grid capacity, and data resources, and is currently experiencing the Matthew effect, with the concentration of market share among leading companies increasing. The development scale of DC charging piles is relatively large, with strong performance from major operators. Guangqi Energy's charging pile averaged 7,358 degrees of charge in November, performing well each month. NIO's charging piles reach around 2,388 degrees of charge. Earlier, Tesla reached 3,634 degrees, all performing well. Meanwhile, some older charging piles only average a little over 100 degrees of charge per month, while major charging companies average in the thousands, resulting in significant differences in charging volume and efficiency. Tesla's monthly data remains stable and impressive. Charging piles are divided into DC piles (fast charging) and AC piles (slow charging). DC charging piles are larger in size, have higher voltage, high power, and fast charging characteristics, requiring a higher demand on the power grid. They are usually located at highway service areas, bus terminals, etc., so their quantity is relatively small, around 20%. AC charging piles, on the other hand, have a lower unit price, are easier to install, and are typically privately owned. Therefore, their quantity is higher, widely distributed, making up over 80%. In terms of technical trends, DC piles are gradually moving towards high-power development. Internationally, dedicated public charging piles have the best effectiveness, providing orderly charging for fixed demand such as public transportation. The number and density of public DC charging piles are growing globally. China is leading in the promotion of DC charging piles: for example, by 2024, China's public network will account for over 42% of DC charging piles. At the same time, the Middle East has become a rising "star" in DC charging piles: with a 7% increase in DC charging pile share in 2022, reaching over 21%; DC charging density has also increased by 125%, with 1.3 DC charging piles per hundred kilometers of road. Both of these aspects are expected to experience rapid growth in the future. The ultimate charging experience should have three main features: first, worry-free charging, providing one-click service, visual charging station status, and intelligent guidance. Second, disturbance-free charging, with a quiet charging process and successful charging without interruptions. Third, carefree charging, with coordinated car-pile cloud services, protection against electromagnetic interference, ensuring personal health and property safety. AC piles have two major flaws: an inability to interact with the power grid, only able to supply energy one way, not supporting V2G evolution; and a lack of coordination between cars and piles, lacking digital interconnectivity and information exchange. Compared to traditional AC piles, small-power DC solutions can better achieve vehicle-grid interaction and digital experiences, bringing three major values: faster charging, not limited by OBC, with charging speeds increased three to five times; long-term evolution, supporting plug-and-charge, point settlement, V2G functions; and mass deployment, achieving three times the coverage under the same power conditions, increasing 50% in the use of grid electricity. 5. Analysis of the capacity to meet the demand for charging piles The national new energy development plan specifies that private slow charging piles are the trend, should account for over 90%. Currently, private pile development is slightly slow, significantly impacting the popularization of electric vehicles. According to surveys, the satisfaction levels of self-owned charging pile users (sufficiency, reasonable layout, pricing, accurate settlement, etc.) are higher than those who choose other options. Private piles are privately owned by vehicle owners, meeting the charging needs at home, typically installed with the vehicle, with a large customer base, serving as the backbone of basic charging facilities. From January to November 2024, there were 5.56 million pure electric passenger cars sold domestically, with 730,000 new public charging piles and 3.02 million private piles built. In terms of the national retail scale of pure electric passenger cars, if we compare public charging piles and private piles on a user service basis of 1:1, the ratio of car piles is 1.5:1, indicating relatively sufficient charging piles. This also highlights the uniqueness of plug-in hybrid vehicles that require minimal charging, such as the Shanghai model, which only requires fuel and not charging. However, when looking at the utilization rate, public piles have 3 times the charging utilization compared to private piles, a ratio of 3:1. This means that the share of charging facilities to the sales volume of pure electric vehicles reaches 1.06, which is basically a 1:1 relationship. Due to the rapid increase in public pile installations, the overall growth in the ratio of car piles has reached a relatively reasonable level of 1:1. This article is from the WeChat public account "Cui Dongshu"; Edited by GMTEight: Wenwen.