Workers install a charging pile for a new energy car from WM Motor at an expo in Shanghai. (Photo: China Daily)

Infrastructure keeping pace with fast-growing segment

China has more than 1 million electric charging piles nationwide according to the latest figures released by a top industry body, demonstrating that electric vehicle infrastructure is growing at a pace in line with the vibrant new energy vehicle market.

The China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance reported that by the end of June 2019, there were 410,000 public charging piles and 590,000 private ones operating across the country.

According to the alliance, China added 140,000 new public charging piles in the past year, with an average growth rate of 11,700 new piles per month.

In terms of regional distribution, the top 10 municipalities and provinces for public charging piles are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Hebei, Anhui and Hubei.

Up to the first half this year, the total amount of the public charging piles in the top 10 municipalities and provinces exceeded 310,000, accounting for some 75 percent of the national total.

As for private charging piles, 270,000 units were installed in the past year alone, with a monthly average increase of 22,500 piles.

China sold 152,000 electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell cars in June, up 80 percent year-on-year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In the first six months of this year, 617,000 new energy vehicles were sold, up 49.6 percent from the same period last year.

Among them, 490,000 were electric cars, with an increase of 56.6 percent from the first six months of last year; 126,000 were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, up 26.4 percent; and 1,102 were fuel cell vehicles, a 7.8-times increase in sales from the same period in 2018.

According to sales statistics released by the China Passenger Car Association, some of China's new energy carmakers performed well in the first half of this year.

BAIC BJEV, the electric vehicle subsidiary of BAIC Group, sold 49,076 of its EU series in the first half of 2019, achieving an impressive 1,506.9 percent growth from the same period last year.

Even better, BYD's new energy vehicle model the Yuan EV sold 43,180 units during the first six months this year, up 2,152.5 percent from the same period in 2018.

Geely sold 23,715 of its Emgrand EV model from January to June this year, achieving a 109.9 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers expects that at least 1.6 million new energy vehicles will be sold this year, up from 1.2 million in 2018.

However, unlike the new energy segment, China's overall automobile market is suffering from a continued fall in growth.

A total of 2.06 million vehicles were sold in June, down 9.6 percent year-on-year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Sales from January to June totaled 12.32 million, falling 12.4 percent from the same period in 2018, which has resulted in the CAAM estimating that the yearly fall in growth to be up 5 percent. "As things have turned out, it would be exceedingly difficult to realize the estimate we made earlier of zero percent growth," said Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the association.