Although the hardware supporting facilities for new energy vehicle charging piles have been gradually improved in recent years, it is evident that there is still a significant gap compared to the surge in sales of new energy vehicles.

According to data previously released by the China Charging Alliance, under the scenario where the sales of pure electric vehicles and the number of charging piles reach a 1:1 ratio in 2024, as of the end of June this year, the number of charging infrastructure in China was 10.243 million, while the number of new energy vehicles in circulation was 24.72 million.

In other words, the current ratio of new energy vehicles to charging piles in China is roughly one charging pile for every 2.5 vehicles.

In the opinion of Chekuaiping, the ratio between new energy vehicles and charging piles is likely to widen further by the end of this year. This can be easily understood by looking at the growth rate of new energy vehicle sales this year.

For most new energy vehicle owners, especially those of pure electric vehicles, they may not particularly notice the difficulty of charging when driving outside during regular days. Firstly, many owners have installed charging piles at home, eliminating the need to occupy public charging resources. Secondly, charging stations are relatively densely distributed in urban areas. Nowadays, in many first-tier cities or provincial capitals, public charging piles can be found within a radius of two to three kilometers.

However, the situation is quite different at highway service areas during holidays. In recent years, during major holidays like the Spring Festival, May Day, and National Day, public charging piles at highway service areas have often experienced long queues for charging, leading to “charging wars”.

This year is no exception.

On social media platforms, some owners of new energy vehicles who traveled by car have shared their experiences of waiting in long queues for charging while gasoline vehicle owners were already enjoying the scenery at tourist attractions.

Precisely because of the shortage of high-speed charging piles, many owners of pure electric vehicles have reported that charging piles at nearly every service area are occupied by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (including extended-range hybrids). In the eyes of these pure electric vehicle owners, plug-in hybrids not only charge slowly but also do not suffer from range anxiety, so they should not compete for charging piles with pure electric vehicles.

Conversely, for owners of plug-in hybrids, since gasoline is cheaper than electricity and they are not in a hurry, queuing for charging is of course more cost-effective than filling up with gas. Moreover, both pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are considered new energy vehicles with green license plates, so is it wrong for them to charge?

Faced with this situation, in order to better serve pure electric vehicle owners, some charging stations have directly issued announcements stating that they do not support charging for plug-in hybrids and extended-range hybrids, effectively denying these owners the right to charge and treating pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners differently.

Do you support this practice by charging stations? Welcome to share your views in the comments section.

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