Pingtan boosts its EV charging infrastructure

Pingtan will build six high-speed charging stations with a total of 690 charging piles by the end of 2017 in a bid to promote the number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the road in the city in Fujian province, the local government has announced.

The first charging station, located at the bus depot in Jinjing Bay, was put into operation on June 22. Equipped with 12 charging piles in total, users are able to choose from regular charging piles or high-speed piles.

The high-speed chargers can top up a battery to 100 percent in an hour, six times quicker than a regular charger, according to a member of staff at the station.

A further five stations are currently under construction in places including Aoqian Taiwan Town, Haitan Ancient City and Haiyu Plaza, said Chen Daibin, deputy director of sales at Pingtan Power Supply Company, the company building the stations.

Pingtan is investing in charging infrastructure to promote the city's hybrid and electric vehicle market. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The station at Aoqian wharf, where the high-speed ferry connecting Pingtan and Taiwan docks, will be fitted with charging piles suitable for electric cars from both Taiwan and the mainland, which charge at different voltages, according to Chen.

Pingtan Power Supply Company has also signed a cooperation agreement with Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone to build another six electric bus charging stations providing a total of 6,281 charging piles by 2020.

China is actively promoting the use of hybrid and electric vehicles to build a cleaner transport network. By 2020, the State Grid Corporation of China intends to establish 10,000 high-speed charging stations providing 120,000 charging piles along the country’s highways, covering a total of 202 cities across China.

Staff test a charging pile at the newly-established charging station at Jinjing Bay bus depot in Pingtan, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]