Steps to expand highway charging infra

China is turbocharging its highway charging infrastructure to eliminate "range anxiety" for the world's largest fleet of electric vehicles, as record-breaking travel data from the Chinese New Year holiday underscore a massive shift in how the nation's consumers move across the country.

Data released by the National Energy Administration on Tuesday revealed that electric vehicle charging on China's expressways surged to an all-time high during the recent Spring Festival period.

Daily average electricity consumption for EV charging on highways jumped 52 percent year-on-year. Total charging volume across the holiday reached 149.77 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), with a daily average of 16.64 million kWh, it said.

The surge highlights the rapid maturation of China's charging network, which is now being positioned as a major infrastructure priority to support both the green energy transition and domestic consumption, said Liu Yongdong, deputy secretary-general of the China Electricity Council.

To address consumer "range anxiety" and accelerate the nationwide transition to electric vehicles, China is making efforts to ensure high-speed turnaround times at charging stations located along its major highway corridors, he said.

China's strategic focus is also shifting toward the aggressive development of high-powered, fast-charging capabilities within its vast EV infrastructure network.

Figures released by the council reveal that power demand last year in the information technology and software services sector jumped 17 percent year-on-year, driven by the massive rollout of electric vehicles, charging piles and 5G infrastructure.

Electricity consumed by the EV charging and battery-swapping services sector particularly skyrocketed 48.8 percent in 2025, it said.

According to the National Energy Administration, the record performance was tracked via a national monitoring platform covering 53,300 highway charging piles.

The sheer volume of power delivered reflects the growing confidence of Chinese drivers in using battery-powered cars for long-distance family reunions, a tradition that was long dominated by internal combustion engines.

This growth highlights a broader shift where enhanced charging infrastructure is actively encouraging motorists to choose EVs for cross-country journeys beyond just daily commutes, it said.

To maintain this trajectory and prepare for a significantly broader national vehicle fleet, the government has introduced a three-year development strategy (2025-27) intended to double the nation's charging service capability by 2027 through the establishment of 28 million new charging points across the country.

The national charging infrastructure is projected to provide upward of 300 million kilowatts in total capacity by 2027 to meet the charging needs of more than 80 million EVs, according to a document released by six government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, recently.

To achieve these objectives, Beijing intends to enhance rapid-charging networks across a diverse range of public and private parking locations. The roadmap envisions the deployment of 1.6 million direct current terminals in cities by 2027, including a subset of 100,000 high-power units.

The strategy also focuses on the modernization of the national expressway network, mandating the installation or renovation of 40,000 fast-charging stations at highway service centers, each with a minimum power output of 60 kW.

The push to bulletproof the charging network isn't just about convenience; it's a sophisticated macroeconomic lever.

State-owned utility giants are expected to pour trillions of yuan into the power sector over the next five years, with State Grid Corp of China, the world's largest utility, vowing to deploy approximately 4 trillion yuan ($554 billion) in fixed-asset investment during this period, a 40 percent surge from the previous five-year cycle.

"The grid is evolving into a smart platform that must accommodate both the energy-hungry AI data centers and the millions of EVs on the road," said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.

"Strengthening the synergy between the backbone grid and these highway 'capillaries' is now a strategic necessity for the national power market."