China Utility to expand EV supercharging in Beijing, says state TV

BEIJING: State Grid Corp of China is planning to significantly expand its supercharging network for electric vehicles here as the adoption of EVs accelerates across the country, China Central Television reported.

The nation’s top utility recently started two supercharging stations in China’s capital, and plans to add nine more over the second half of the year, according to the report, citing State Grid.

The initial sites can supply power to 700 cars a day on average and charge vehicles withing 10 minutes, CCTV said.

China’s adoption of new energy vehicles has chipped away at gasoline demand, with the International Energy Agency predicting the nation’s consumption of the fuel will peak in 2025.

The number of charging posts surged to 10 million in June, a 54% increase from a year earlier, according official data.

Supercharging stations use more power to charge EVs within minutes, compared with some sites that can take hours (the former  basically use DC chargers, while the latter are AC chargers. The user pays more for the convenience of using the DC chargers).

Each charging link at the initial State Grid stations here has maximum power output of 600kW, CCTV said.