Chongqing- As one of the municipalities with the largest population in the world, Chongqing is striving to develop the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) industry. At the same time, Chongqing is on the top of the national average level in the construction of charging piles along its highway network. By the end of 2021, 137 charging stations and 548 charging piles have been installed around the city, forming southwest China's largest highway charging network.

Charging piles are similar to tankers in traditional gas stations. Charging piles can be fixed on the ground or wall and installed in public buildings, residential parking lots, or public electric car charging stations, which generally provide two charging modes: regular and quick. 

More and more families in Chongqing are driving NEVs to enjoy a road trip this summer vacation, yet the inconvenient charging of NEV has attracted much attention. A recent survey found that over 50% of NEV drivers are concerned about "inconvenient charging of NEV." The lack of charging facilities seems to be the bottleneck towards greater NEV adoption.

72,900 charging piles available

Yet, Chongqing is making efforts in the NEV industry. Can it solve consumers' charging anxiety?

Currently, Chongqing has more than 72,900 charging piles for NEVs, where the central urban area accounts for 70%, according to an official from the Chongqing Economic and Information Commission.

The construction pace is accelerating. By 2025, the city will have over 240,000 charging piles, including 3,0000 quick public chargers. 

The recently released Chongqing government documents stated that the new residential communities should ensure that 100% of the parking spaces are equipped with charging facilities or reserved installation conditions. The proportion of public parking spaces with built charging facilities shall not be less than 50%. The new office building parking lots should be 100% qualified for charging facilities installation.

Statistics show that as of September 2021, China owns 10,836 highway charging piles, with 2,318 highway service areas equipped with charging banks, accounting for 0.5% of all the charging piles in China.

200 swapping stations by Chongqing by 2025

In addition to the layout of charging piles, Chongqing is also exploring electric swapping mode to solve the charging anxiety of NEV owners.

Chongqing has built 72 swapping stations in 2021, covering the central urban area and some highway service areas, forming a swapping service network that meets the early operation demonstration. By 2025, the number of swapping stations in Chongqing will climb to 200. 

"Aulton has operated 24 swapping stations in Chongqing," said Xia Xue, general manager of Chongqing Aulton New Energy Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. "The main service target is the taxi and ride-hailing, and the number of swapping in a single day has exceeded 4,000, and the total mileage of swapping has surpassed 70 million kilometers."

Xia said that Aulton plans to extend to the west, gradually opening up the Chengdu-Chongqing swapping corridor.

In February this year, Geely put into operation the first batch of intelligent swapping stations in five highway service areas in Chongqing. In the next five years, stations will increase to 40.

Ruilan automobile, a joint venture of Geely and Lifan, recently released its first convertible electric car, serving as an iconic event for Chongqing to build the whole industrial chain of swapping NEVs. Furthermore, BYD also intends to carry out the layout of the NEV swapping project in Chongqing.

Charging vs. Swapping

Charging and swapping both modes have advantages; which way should Chongqing choose to develop?

NEVs charging mode allows for simple equipment, low installation, investment, and operation costs, with strong adaptability to electric vehicles. Swapping technology will quickly recharge the NEVs. The current swapping station can charge the battery in only 3 minutes.

The battery life will be optimized through unified management of battery charging, and peak-trough price differences will alleviate the power consumption pressure.

Zhou Xiong, chairman of State Grid Chongqing Electric Power Company, said that Chongqing has complex charging application scenarios, and it's worth researching a reasonable layout.

For example, the charging mode is more suitable for private cars, public transportation, and sanitation. Those vehicles operate during the day and charge at night. While the swapping way is ideal for taxis, ride-hailing, logistics, and other cars when "people rest and cars don't stop." 

Currently, government departments are providing guarantee measures for station land use and power supply.

(Ge Rongchen, and Zhu Qinzhuo, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)