- China has the world’s largest market for Electric Vehicles (EV) right now, supported by a world-leading public EV charging network.
- By 2021, the ratio of EV volume in stock to the number of public chargers for China is estimated at around 7x (reversely the average number of public chargers each EV has access to is 0.15x). This is nearly double the ratio of Germany at 0.08x.
- The National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) plans to further accelerate the build-up of the EV charging infrastructure, aiming to have sufficient chargers for the operations of 20mn EVs by 2025.
- Focus areas include more charging piles in residential communities and in city outskirts as well as fast charging facilities along major highways.
- In addition, NDRC aims to push the pilots for battery swapping stations as an alternative to charging stations, most likely to be implemented first in specialized applications like coal mining, ports, taxis and public transport.
- Domestic Chinese OEMs who adopted battery swapping models in their EVs will benefit enormously from the policy support for battery swapping. In contrast, foreign players have so far rarely taken this technology route, therefore risking to lose competitiveness in China if consumers are tilting towards battery swapping in the future.
Sinolytics is a European consulting and analysis company specializing in China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and concrete business activities in the People’s Republic.