Three‑Year Doubling Plan to Deliver 28 Million Chargers and Serve Over 80 Million EVs, Unlocking New Consumption Potential

As new energy vehicle adoption accelerates, the capacity and quality of charging infrastructure have become decisive factors for deeper market penetration. On October 15, the National Development and Reform Commission and other agencies issued the Action Plan for Doubling Electric Vehicle Charging Service Capacity (2025–2027). The plan states that by continuously完善 the charging network, improving charging efficiency, upgrading service quality, and innovating the industry ecosystem, consumer confidence will be strengthened and broader EV adoption encouraged. By the end of 2027 the nation aims to have 28 million charging facilities in place, provide over 300 million kWh of public charging capacity, and meet the charging needs of more than 80 million electric vehicles, effectively doubling charging service capability.

Against the backdrop of annual sales surpassing ten million units, EV owners’ demand for convenient recharging has intensified, placing higher requirements on infrastructure development. The Three‑Year Doubling initiative is therefore designed both to accommodate rising demand and to create the foundation for expanded EV consumption.

By the end of August this year, China’s total charging installations reached 17.348 million charging points, a year‑on‑year increase of 53.5%, of which 4.316 million are public charging points, up 37.8%. Given their central role in public energy replenishment, the expansion and upgrading of public charging infrastructure are prioritized in the Action Plan.

The plan requires the addition of 1.6 million DC charging guns in urban areas by the end of 2027, including 100,000 high‑power units. Highway service areas, including parking zones, are to see 40,000 new or upgraded “ultra‑fast combination” chargers of 60 kW and above, with high‑power deployment encouraged; except for extremely cold or high‑altitude regions, all highway service areas should have charging capability. The plan also targets at least 14,000 DC chargers for township administrative areas that currently lack public charging stations and calls for further regional expansion based on demand to achieve comprehensive rural coverage.

Scaling public infrastructure must go hand in hand with improving reliability. Liu Yongdong, Deputy Secretary‑General of the China Electricity Council and head of the Electric Transportation and Energy Storage Branch, observed that a portion of public charging sites face equipment aging and information‑update deficiencies on apps, resulting in situations where drivers arrive to find stations unusable or chargers occupied. The Action Plan mandates upgrades for AC charging facilities, equipment in service for over eight years, and charging platforms below 800 V, addressing these operational pain points.

The plan also emphasizes accelerating high‑power deployments along highways to ease peak‑period congestion during holidays. Recent National Day holiday experiences, when drivers queued for hours at highway chargers, underscore the urgency of strengthening capacity to prevent extended delays and avoid detours into urban areas for charging. Pilot program for unified residential charging services

While public infrastructure expansion addresses macro‑level needs, residential private charging—the so‑called last mile—remains a significant barrier. Private charger installation in communities faces approval procedures and constraints such as aging electrical infrastructure and limited access capacity, which can render some neighborhoods unsuitable for installations.

The Action Plan sets differentiated requirements for new and existing residential developments. New communities are to equip fixed parking spaces with charging infrastructure or reserve installation conditions to enable direct metering and connection. Existing neighborhoods are to add chargers in line with local conditions, integrating installations with old‑community renovations and whole‑community construction projects, while upgrading supporting power distribution facilities to raise both public charging service capacity and the proportion of private parking spaces equipped with charging points.

For communities with high EV penetration, constrained access capacity, and obstacles to private charger construction, operators will be encouraged to adopt a unified planning, construction and operation model—referred to as “unified construction and unified service.” The Action Plan calls for piloting this model in targeted communities and aims to establish 1,000 pilot residential areas by 2027 to substantially increase private charger access and strengthen safety management.

Liu noted that entrusting professional operators with unified construction and maintenance supports more systematic planning and long‑term safety management, and implementation details will be tailored to local conditions as part of an exploratory effort to resolve community charging challenges.

Expanded and higher‑quality charging infrastructure is intended to accelerate NEV development. Zou Peng, Executive Secretary‑General of the Charging and Battery Swap Branch of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and of the China EV Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, remarked that charging infrastructure is a fundamental enabler of EV adoption and that the scale of EV deployment in turn drives improvements in service quality. As the automotive industry shifts toward electrification, intelligence, and connectivity, EVs will play a larger role in electricity market interactions and charging infrastructure will become ever more integral to integration with the power grid.

Data for the first eight months show an increase of 4.53 million charging points alongside domestic NEV sales of 8.088 million units, yielding a charger‑to‑vehicle increment ratio of approximately 1:1.8. Liu emphasized that current infrastructure broadly meets rapid NEV growth, while acknowledging the sales expansion remains swift.

Tracing the industry’s trajectory from the 2009 “ten cities, thousand vehicles” pilot to surpassing one million annual units in 2018, then exceeding five million in 2022 and reaching the ten‑million annual mark within two years, the EV sector’s pace has accelerated. Projections cited in professional fora have suggested that by 2035 green power may become the primary charging source, with global NEV sales approaching 30 million and cumulative ownership potentially reaching 200–300 million units. Liu concluded that given the market’s long‑term expansion potential, charging infrastructure construction must be accelerated in alignment with the Action Plan’s 2027 doubling objective.

This national directive follows earlier policy guidance issued on July 7 by multiple departments promoting the scientific planning and construction of high‑power charging facilities. The guidance highlighted charging infrastructure as critical to NEV industry development, new power‑system construction, and the transportation sector’s green transition, and it projected wider adoption of single‑gun charging units at 250 kW and above. The objective is to surpass 100,000 high‑power charging units nationwide by 2027 while iterating service quality and technological applications.