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Recently, six departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Three-Year Doubling Action Plan for Electric Vehicle Charging Facility Service Capacity (2025-2027)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"). The reporter interviewed relevant comrades from the National Energy Administration regarding this matter.

1. What is the background of the introduction of the "Action Plan"?

China's new energy vehicles (NEVs) have entered a stage of rapid development on a large scale. Charging facilities, as a crucial support for the NEV industry, directly impact consumers' purchasing confidence through their service capabilities. On the one hand, China's charging infrastructure has developed rapidly in recent years, and its service capabilities can basically meet the current charging needs of NEVs. However, there are still issues such as uneven layout of public charging networks, facilities' functional structures needing optimization, insufficient service supply in residential areas, power supply guarantees needing strengthening, and operational management quality and efficiency needing improvement. Policies need to be introduced to address these issues. On the other hand, in March this year, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption", which regards automobile consumption as an important means to boost consumption. It requires all localities and departments to focus on optimizing the consumption environment and creating effective consumer demand. In order to implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on stabilizing employment, stabilizing the economy, and promoting high-quality development, and to accelerate the construction of a high-quality charging infrastructure system, we have studied and formulated the "Action Plan". The "Action Plan" clarifies the goals and action paths for the development of charging facilities in the coming period, helps accelerate the construction of a high-quality charging infrastructure system, and supports the development of the NEV industry.

2. What is the overall consideration of the "Action Plan"?

The "Action Plan" revolves around the "four more emphases" and proposes relevant policies and measures to accelerate the construction of a high-quality charging facility system. Firstly, it places more emphasis on balance. In terms of spatial layout, while urban charging service guarantee capabilities are relatively sufficient, the construction of charging facilities in rural areas is still uneven. The "Action Plan" clearly states that it is necessary to accelerate the improvement of shortcomings in rural charging facility construction and achieve full coverage of public charging facilities in rural areas. In terms of facility functional structure, the average power of public charging facilities in China is currently only 45.5 kilowatts, which cannot effectively meet the charging needs of rapid energy replenishment scenarios such as highways and urban hotspots during holidays. The "Action Plan" clearly states that it is necessary to accelerate the planning and construction of high-power charging facilities in key cities and highway service areas, further optimizing the functional structure of facilities. Secondly, it places more emphasis on innovation. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) interaction, as a new mode and format, connects new energy vehicles (NEVs) with the power supply network using charging and swapping facilities. By organizing intelligent and orderly charging and bidirectional charging and discharging, it can effectively leverage the regulatory potential of NEVs as flexible energy storage resources. The "Action Plan" proposes to expand the scope of V2G pilot projects and continue to explore innovations in pricing policies, marketization mechanisms, and application scenarios. Thirdly, it places more emphasis on inclusiveness. In response to the difficulty in constructing charging piles in residential areas, the "Action Plan" further strengthens the requirements for the construction of charging infrastructure and actively promotes the new construction mode of "unified construction and unified service". In response to the insufficient coverage of charging networks in rural areas, it proposes to further expand the layout of charging facilities in rural areas and support the promotion of NEVs to the countryside. In response to the cumbersome process of reporting and applying for electricity installation and connection reported by the people, it requires simplifying the application materials for residential charging pile installation and encourages the exploration of pilot applications such as "one community, one certificate", implementing "three zeros" and "three provinces" service measures. Fourthly, it places more emphasis on implementation. To ensure the effective implementation of the "three-year doubling" action, the "Action Plan" clarifies the corresponding responsibilities of relevant national ministries and departments, and puts forward specific work requirements for local competent departments, power grid enterprises, charging operation enterprises, industry associations, and consulting institutions, effectively guaranteeing the smooth implementation of the "Action Plan".

3. What are the main objectives of the "Action Plan"?

The "Action Plan" clearly states that it will further boost consumer confidence and promote the wider purchase and use of electric vehicles by continuously improving the charging network, enhancing charging efficiency, optimizing service quality, and innovating the industrial ecosystem. By the end of 2027, 28 million charging facilities will be established nationwide, providing over 300 GW of public charging capacity to meet the charging needs of more than 80 million electric vehicles, achieving a doubling of charging service capacity.

4. What are the key tasks outlined in the "Action Plan"?

The "Action Plan" proposes the implementation of five major special actions. The first is the action to enhance and upgrade public charging facilities. It aims to address the differentiated energy replenishment needs of urban, intercity, and rural charging networks by implementing categorized strategies. The plan is to build an urban public charging network primarily focused on fast charging, supplemented by slow charging, and beneficially complemented by high-power charging. It also involves densifying the layout of charging facilities in highway service areas, optimizing the functional structure of facilities, further extending the rural charging network, and enhancing the guarantee of charging demand during the "Spring Festival homecoming" period. The second action is to optimize charging conditions in residential areas. It specifies that newly built residential areas should have 100% construction of charging facilities or reservation of installation conditions for fixed parking spaces. Existing residential areas should supplement charging facilities according to local conditions, and pilot projects for the "unified construction and service" model in residential areas should be carried out. The third action is the promotion of large-scale application of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2G) interaction. It involves advancing the construction of the first batch of V2G pilot projects, establishing a collaborative promotion and tracking evaluation mechanism, exploring market-oriented V2G response models, and continuously expanding the scope of V2G pilot projects. The fourth action is to improve power supply capacity and service. It requires incorporating the demand for charging facility access into distribution network planning, carrying out construction and renovation such as distribution network frame optimization and substation capacity expansion, strengthening the guarantee of installation and power connection services, actively expanding business handling channels, and optimizing internal approval processes. The fifth action is to enhance the quality of charging operation services. It involves increasing the supply of high-quality, high-efficiency, and high-reliability facilities, promoting the upgrading and transformation of old equipment, improving the environment and operation and maintenance quality of stations, standardizing charging standards, perfecting the functions of the charging facility monitoring and service platform, and strengthening the evaluation and application of operation service quality results.

5. How to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of the Action Plan?

The "Action Plan" proposes four aspects of safeguard measures. First, strengthen organizational leadership. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration coordinate and promote the implementation of the action plan. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, and other departments strengthen policy support and work supervision in areas such as vehicle-grid interaction, construction of charging facilities in urban residential areas, and construction of charging facilities along highways. The State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Energy Administration, and other departments strengthen the supervision of the quality and safety of charging pile products according to their job responsibilities, and urge and guide the formulation of standards. Second, strengthen implementation. Various entities in the charging industry should perform their respective duties and work together to solidly promote the effective implementation of the plan. Local government departments should formulate three-year action plans for the construction of charging facilities in their respective regions according to local conditions, and increase support for the construction and renovation of supporting power grids. Power grid enterprises should strengthen the construction of supporting power grids and improve the level of power supply services, and increase the construction of guaranteed charging facilities. Charging facility operation enterprises should expand the scale of charging facility construction and improve service quality. Industry associations and consulting institutions should improve technical specifications and construction guidelines. Third, strengthen safety management. Local government departments should strengthen the safety management of charging facilities according to their division of responsibilities. Charging construction and operation enterprises should strictly follow national standards in the selection, design, construction, and fire-fighting facility layout of charging stations. Public charging station design, construction, supervision, and other units should implement the main responsibility for production safety, and charging operation enterprises should ensure that charging equipment meets quality regulations. Fourth, do a good job in publicity and guidance. Intensify policy publicity, conduct in-depth policy interpretation, and strengthen cross-industry and cross-field exchanges.