Cui Dongshu: By January 2025, the total number of public charging piles reached 3.76 million, an increase of 180,000 from the previous month.

Cui Dongshu wrote that according to the data analysis of the China Charging Alliance organized by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the total number of public charging piles reached 3.76 million in January 2025, an increase of 180,000 from the previous month, which was 223% higher than the same period last year. Currently, there are 9.45 million private charging piles with cars, an increase of 214,000 from the previous month, with a growth rate of 3%. In January, the average monthly charging of public charging piles was 1,596 kWh, which was higher than the 1,517 kWh in January of last year. In recent years, China's charging infrastructure has developed rapidly and has built the world's largest, most extensive, and most diverse charging infrastructure system. Currently, according to calculations of 1 public charger = 3 private chargers, China's ratio of public chargers to new electric vehicles in 2024 is 1:1, leading the world by several times. However, the current charging infrastructure still faces challenges such as inadequate layout, lack of reasonable structure, outdated charging pile technology, uneven services, and inadequate regulation. The rate of regret in purchasing electric vehicles has increased in some lower-tier areas. With the continuous improvement in scale, adjustments are relatively easy to make, and there is great potential for the advancement of electric vehicles. The development of charging piles should be moderately advanced to ensure sufficient utilization, as the overall operations of charging facilities are likely to be running at a loss. Currently, the ratio of incremental public charging piles to new electric vehicles is 1.5:1. In order to better serve the people's needs for new energy vehicles, a high-quality charging infrastructure system needs to be further developed, in line with the rapid growth of new energy vehicles, specifically electric vehicles, and to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of transportation. 1. Overview of Charging Piles Charging infrastructure provides charging and battery swapping services for electric vehicles and is an important infrastructure for transport energy integration. In 2021, the number of public charging piles increased by 340,000, while private charging piles increased by 600,000. The annual growth rate of public charging piles decreased by 18% compared to 2020, and the annual growth rate of private charging piles decreased by 32% compared to 2020. In 2022, the number of public charging piles increased by 650,000, while private charging piles increased by 1.94 million. The annual growth rate of public charging piles increased by 92% compared to 2021, and the annual growth rate of private charging piles increased by 226% compared to 2021. In 2023, the number of public charging piles increased by 930,000, with the annual growth rate increasing by 43% compared to 2022, while private charging piles increased by 2.457 million, with the annual growth rate increasing by 27% compared to 2022. In 2024, the number of public charging piles increased by 850,000, with the annual growth rate decreasing by 8% compared to 2023, while private charging piles increased by 3.37 million, with the annual growth rate increasing by 37% compared to 2023. In January 2025, the total number of public charging piles reached 3.76 million, with an increase of 180,000 from the previous month, which was 223% higher than the same period last year. There are currently 9.45 million private charging piles, with an increase of 214,000 in January, and a growth rate of 3%. The average monthly charging of public charging piles in January was 1,596 kWh, which was better than the 1,517 kWh in January last year. 2. Monthly Growth of Charging Piles In 2024, the number of public charging piles increased by 850,000 compared to the end of 2023, with a slightly lower growth rate. Charging piles are primarily dominated by private charging. According to surveys, charging is mainly done through private charging piles, shared charging piles, and public charging piles within residential areas or companies, with each accounting for between 22% and 26%, totaling around 75%. Some respondents charge at public charging piles outside residential areas, and some at public charging piles in places like shopping malls and cinemas. 3. Analysis of Public Charging Piles in Various Regions In January 2025, the number of public charging piles in Guangdong increased by 120,000, with a share of 18%, a decrease from the previous year when it increased by 170,000 and had a share of 20%. The situation of public charging stations varies greatly in different regions, with major cities having larger charging stations. Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Beijing have well-developed charging stations. In January 2025, Shandong saw an increase of around 69,000 charging piles, while Hebei saw an increase of around 51,000 charging piles, with a rapid increase in market share. Beijing has 149,000 public charging piles, with an increase of 20,000 from January last year, showing steady growth. Shanghai is in a similar situation. Currently, the ratio of public charging piles to vehicles in China is much better than in Europe and the United States, but there is an issue of underutilization: firstly, coverage is not comprehensive, with 10% of service areas on highways not covered and charging infrastructure coverage in rural areas less than 5%; secondly, the structure is not reasonable, with 99% of charging facilities being fast chargers and slow chargers, and 64% of public DC fast charging piles still below 750V, unable to support the development of high-voltage fast charging above 800V in the next stage. At a micro level, high operating costs are a challenge, with more than 30% being non-functional devices, low digitalization increasing operational management difficulties and costs. Also, traditional air-cooled equipment has poor quality, with a lifespan of only 3-5 years, leading operators to face replacement costs before recovering investments, exacerbating user anxiety about charging. 4. Analysis of Charging Companies Charging pile operators in China can roughly be divided into four types: 1) integrated companies that combine charging pile manufacturing with charging network investment and operation, mainly using a heavy asset model, focusing on the operation of their own assets, and partnering with other operators and third-party platforms, including StarCharge.1) Belongs to Wanbang Digital, TGOOD Electric (Qingdao TGOOD Electric), Wanma Aichong (Zhejiang Wanma), Putian New Energy, Shanghai Yiwei Energy, and Shenzhen Clou Electronics (joint venture). 2) Grid-built charging pile networks include 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-built charging networks include Tesla, NIO, Xiaopeng, SAIC Anyue, GAC Energy, etc., some of which outsource the construction and operation of the charging network to asset-based charging operators and third-party charging service providers. 4) Third-party charging network operators, such as Yunkuaichong, Xiaojuchongdian (affiliated with DiDi Chuxing), Shenzhen Huineng, mainly adopt a light asset model, focusing on the large long-tail market of charging piles, providing Saas services for regional operators, essentially IT service providers.The domestic charging pile operation industry faces four major competitive barriers: funds, sites, grid capacity, and data resources. Currently, it exhibits the Matthew effect, with the market concentration of leading companies increasing. The development scale of DC charging piles is relatively large, and leading operators perform well. GAC Energy's charging pile averages 7243 kWh of charging in January, performing well every month. NIO's charging pile reaches around 2570 kWh. Earlier Tesla reached 3634 kWh, all performing well. However, some older charging piles only average over 100 kWh per month, while the monthly charging of major charging companies is in the thousands, resulting in significant differences in charging volume and efficiency. Tesla's monthly data remains stable and very good. Charging piles are divided into two categories: direct current (DC) piles (fast charging) and alternating current (AC) piles (slow charging). DC charging piles are larger in size, with high voltage, high power, and fast charging characteristics, and are usually built at highway service areas and bus stations where the grid requirements are higher, so their quantity accounts for about 20%. AC charging piles have relatively lower unit prices, are easier to install, and are usually privately owned, so they are more abundant and widespread, accounting for over 80%. In terms of technological development trends, DC piles are gradually moving towards high-power development. Internationally, the best results are seen with public dedicated charging piles, providing orderly charging for fixed charging demands such as public transport. The number and density of public DC charging piles are increasing globally. China is leading in the promotion of DC charging piles: for example, by 2024, the share of DC charging piles in the public network in China will exceed 42%. Meanwhile, the Middle East has become a rising star in DC charging piles: the share of DC charging piles increased by 7% in 2022, reaching over 21%; the density of DC charging piles increased by 125%, with 1.3 DC charging piles per hundred kilometers of road. Both sets of data are expected to further increase rapidly. The ultimate charging experience should have three main features: First, worry-free charging. Providing one-touch service, visually available charging station status, and smart guidance. Second, disturbance-free charging. The charging process is super quiet, with no issues of successful charging. Third, worry-free charging. Vehicle-pile cloud collaboration, anti-electromagnetic interference, safeguarding personal health and property safety. AC piles have two major shortcomings: they cannot interact with the grid, only one-way power supply is possible, not supporting V2G evolution; and they cannot coordinate between vehicles and charging piles, lack digital interconnection, and information exchange. Compared to traditional AC piles, low-power DC solutions can better achieve vehicle-grid interaction and digital experience, bringing three main values: faster charging, not constrained by OBC, charging speed increased by 3-5 times; long-term evolution, supporting plug-and-charge, point redemption settlement, V2G functions; massive deployment, under the same power conditions, coverage can be tripled, increasing market electricity utilization by 50%. The analysis of charging pile demand satisfaction The national new energy development plan clearly states that private slow charging is the trend, accounting for over 90%. Currently, private pile development is slightly slow, seriously affecting the popularity of electric vehicles. According to surveys, the satisfaction of users with their own charging piles (sufficiency of charging piles, reasonable layout, charging prices, accurate settlement, etc.) is higher than that of other respondents. Private piles are privately owned by vehicle owners to meet their charging needs at home, usually built alongside the car, with a large customer base, making them the absolute mainstay of basic charging facilities. In January 2025, 419,000 pure electric passenger cars were sold domestically, with 181,000 new public piles and 214,000 private piles built. If the number of public charging piles is viewed as equivalent to private ones on a 1:1 basis, then the ratio of vehicle piles is 1.5:1, making the charging pile relatively adequate. However, if we look at the utilization rate of public piles as three times that of private ones, i.e., a 3:1 relationship, then the proportion of charging facilities to pure electric vehicle sales reaches 0.55, which is essentially a 1:1 relationship. Due to the sharp increase in the installation of public piles, the overall increase in the vehicle pile ratio has reached a relatively reasonable level of 1:1.