China invests in EV charging infrastructure to offset coronavirus economic downturn
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, between now(May’20) and the end of the year 2020, China will spend almost $1.5 billion to install 200,000 EV chargers throughout the country, 20,000 of which will be public chargers. It’s all part of a plan to revive China’s economy after the coronavirus shutdown with more infrastructure investment in EV charging, intercity transit systems, ultra high voltage electrical grids, and 5G technology.
Ouyang Minggao, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says, “Building more charging piles will increase convenience for charging cars and greatly alleviate customers’ range anxiety. It will also help better popularize new energy vehicles.”
A state-owned electric utility, State Grid Corp of China, will play a key role in the EV charging expansion. It says it will invest $383 million to install up to 78,000 chargers in 24 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu province as well as Qinghai province in northwestern China. 18,000 will be for public use while 53,000 chargers will be located in residential areas.
“The move is expected to boost the revenue from sales of new energy vehicles by over 20 billion yuan and foster the production of power products and components, as well as upstream and downstream industries of NEVs,” said Wang Yanfang, a State Grid spokesperson.
