As of April 30th, Shenzhen has built a total of 362 automobile supercharging stations, with more supercharging stations than gas stations.
The latest statistical data from the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission shows that as of April 30th, the city has built a total of 362 automobile supercharging stations, with more supercharging stations than gas stations and more charging guns than gas guns.
Shenzhen is the first city in China to achieve the “dual super” of new energy vehicle overcharging facilities. This is also another landmark progress achieved by the domestic new energy vehicle industry as the penetration rate of new cars exceeds 50% for the first time.
The charging speed of overcharging piles is several times that of general fast charging piles, and 40 to 50 times or even more than that of slow charging piles. The construction of overcharging stations is crucial for accelerating the promotion and popularization of new energy vehicles.
On June 29, 2023, Shenzhen launched its first fully liquid cooled overcharging demonstration station and announced the launch of the “City of Supercharging” construction. Currently, a preliminary overcharging service network has been established throughout the city. These overcharging stations mostly rely on the construction of existing public charging stations, distributed in large commercial complexes, bus stations, industrial parks, etc. According to data from the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau of Southern Power Grid, the charging capacity of new energy vehicles in Shenzhen reached 670 million kilowatt hours in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%.
Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and other places are also accelerating the construction of new energy vehicle charging networks. Chongqing recently announced the “Action Plan for Convenient Supercharging of New Energy Vehicles (2024-2025)”, proposing to accelerate the construction of a national first-class convenient overcharging city. By the end of 2025, the city will have built over 2000 overcharging stations and over 4000 overcharging piles. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the production of new energy vehicles in Chongqing doubled year-on-year in the first quarter to 165100 units, ranking fourth among provincial-level administrative regions in China. The city plans to have a total of 1.2 million new energy vehicles by 2026.
The business community is more proactive in promoting the construction of charging facilities. In addition to the individual breakthroughs of various new forces in the automotive industry, last month Huawei Digital Energy teamed up with the first batch of 11 automotive companies, over 500 online and offline charging operators, industry associations, and others such as BYD, Chery, Great Wall, GAC, Ideal, Celes, Avita, and Xiaopeng to establish the “Supercharge Alliance”, hoping to create a wide coverage supercharge network and allow users to “buy new energy vehicles with confidence”.
According to data released by the China Charging Alliance, as of October 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in China was 7.954 million units, an increase of 68.9% year-on-year. The top ten provinces in terms of the number of public charging stations are Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Hubei, Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Sichuan, with 71.6% of the total number of public charging stations constructed in the country.
Vigorously developing new energy vehicles is a national established policy. The most recent important document in this regard is the “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China” released on December 27, 2023, which clearly states that by 2027, the proportion of new energy vehicles in the new car market will strive to reach 45%.
Under the guidance of national policies, multiple provinces and cities across the country have listed new energy vehicles as a key industry for vigorous development, including traditional automobile manufacturing bases and new forces emerging through the “new forces of car manufacturing”. According to relevant documents from various regions, there are at least 9 cities with a production capacity of over 1 million new energy vehicles by 2025, including Hefei (over 3 million vehicles), Liuzhou (over 3 million vehicles), Shenzhen (over 2 million vehicles), Guangzhou (over 2 million vehicles), Xi’an (over 1.5 million vehicles), Shanghai (over 1.2 million vehicles, achieved in 2023), Chongqing (1 million vehicles), Chengdu (over 1 million vehicles), and Nanjing (over 1 million vehicles). In addition, Changsha City has not released any relevant documents, but according to the relevant plans of Hunan Province, it can be inferred that the city’s target for new energy vehicle production in 2025 is also over 1 million vehicles.
Wei Fulei, Director of the Finance, Taxation, Trade and Industrial Development Research Center of China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, believes in an interview with First Financial that the driving force of leading enterprises and a solid industrial chain foundation are the key for cities to compete in the new energy vehicle industry. At present, in addition to the top three cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Xi’an, cities such as Hefei (BYD, NIO, etc.), Changsha (BYD), Guangzhou (GAC Aion, Xiaopeng), Chongqing (Changan, Sailis Wenjie), and Changzhou (BYD, Ideal, Power Battery Industry Chain) have a good foundation for developing the new energy vehicle industry.
Under the joint efforts of the national and local governments, China’s new energy vehicle industry has achieved remarkable results, with production and sales of 9.587 million and 9.495 million vehicles respectively in 2023, ranking first in the world for nine consecutive years, and a domestic market share of 31.6%. As of the end of 2023, the total number of new energy vehicles in China reached 20.41 million, accounting for 6.07% of the total number of vehicles.
In April this year, China’s automotive industry ushered in a historic moment. According to data released by the Automobile Market Research Branch of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), from April 1st to 14th, the retail sales of 516000 passenger cars in the national passenger car market, including 260000 new energy vehicles, accounting for 50.39%; At the same time, the wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles also accounted for 50.19%, and both penetration rates exceeded those of gasoline vehicles for the first time. The arrival of this historic milestone is 11 years ahead of the original national planning goals.
The penetration rate of new energy vehicles has exceeded 50%, indicating that the mainstream consumer group has widely accepted the new thing of new energy vehicles, which is of milestone significance for the next development of the industry. Industry insiders believe that with the further maturity of new energy vehicle technology and performance, and the further improvement of supporting facilities, the entire industry will usher in greater development.
According to Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the CAS Member and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Association, the media predicted that the market share of new energy vehicles would rise rapidly before 2026, approaching 40% in 2024, 50% in 2025, and more than 50% in 2026. By 2030, the number of new energy vehicles will reach around 100 million, with a market share exceeding 70%.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security in January this year, the number of automobiles in China has reached 336 million, with 94 cities having over 1 million vehicles.