Research and Investment Prospect of China Electric Vehicle Charging Station and Charging Pile Market, 2015-2020

3. Development of Electrical Vehicle and Charging Market in China

3.1 Status Quo of Electrical Vehicle Charging Station and Charging Pile in China

3.1.1 Overview
In 2008-2013, the sales of new-energy automobile in China kept raising year by year, with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.05%. In 2013, the sales of new-energy automobile in China were about 17,600, up 37.60% over last year.

In 2014, the output and sales of new-energy automobile 78,499 and 74,763 respectively, up 3.5 times and 3.2 times over last year respectively. By the end of 2014, the number of new-energy automobile was close to 100,000. According to the statistics from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in Jan.-Apr. 2015, the total output of new-energy automobile was 34,400, up 3 times over the same period of last year. In which, the output of new-energy automobile in Apr. was 9,060, up 1.5 times over the same period of last year.

As for electric automobile sales, in 2011-2013, the sales of electric automobile in China had been keeping rising year by year, and the ratio to new-energy automobile had been increasing to some extent. In 2013, the output of electric automobile was 14,243, accounting for 81.39%, and the sales was 14,604, accounting for 82.98%.

In 2014, the output and sales of new-energy automobile 78,499 and 74,763 respectively, up 3.5 times and 3.2 times over last year respectively. In which, the output and sales of electric vehicle were 48,605 and 45,048 respectively, up 2.4 times and 2.1 times over last year respectively; the output and sales of hybrid electric vehicle were 29,894 and 29,715 respectively, up 8.1 times and 8.8 times over last year respectively, which are obviously higher than that of electric vehicle, mainly because it is only the initial stage of new-energy automobile promotion in China, infrastructure construction is not complete relatively. In consideration of electric automobile mileage, hybrid electric vehicles are accepted more easily by consumers.

In the first quarter of 2015, the sales of new-energy automobile was 26,581, up 2.8 times over the same period of last year, in which, the sales of electric vehicle was 15,405, up 3.7 over the same period of last year; the sales of hybrid electric vehicle was 11,176, up 2.1 times over the same period of last year, the achievement exceeded far above market expectation.

The electric automobile can be classified into three types by power sources: Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), Electric Vehicle (EV), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV).

Tab.14: Comparison of Different Types of Electric Automobiles
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Electric Vehicle (EV) Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV)
Driving mode Internal combustion engine + Motor drive Motor drive Motor drive
Energy system Internal combustion engine + Battery Battery Fuel cell
Energy source and recharging Gas station / Charging facilitates Charging equipment of power network Hydrogen
Emission Reduce emission Zero emission Close to zero emission
Commercialized process Relatively mature commercialization Few of products are on sale, Scale have not been formed yet. D&R phase
Main advantages Long mileage endurance Low emission High energy-efficiency / long mileage endurance
Main problems Cells efficiency insufficiency of charging station, safety performance of cells to be improved High cost, hydrogen production technology to be broken through
Source: Huidian Research

Judging from the above main performances, at present, the industry insiders consider the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is most suitable for industrialization and is popularized easiest, in light of it’s the most mature technology among the new energy automobiles, the effects of energy-saving and the adoption of braking energy recovery without needing external charging equipment.

Though, Electric Vehicle (EV) can realize zero emission, it still hard to popularize in large scale because of the restriction of cell technology, limited mileage endurance, and heavy of itself weight and lack of public charging stations. However, with the development of cells technology, especially the technologies of lithium/ferric phosphate, the ratio of EV to the new-energy automobiles will increase gradually.

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) is the ultimate goal of new-energy automobile that can be expected by Human being, the main problems faced by fuel cells are that cost is higher, the noble metal platinum used as the catalyst of fuel cell reaction is expensive, and the delivery and storage cost of hydrogen is also higher as well as the technologies related to fuel cells are still not mature, so it still needs a long period of development for FCEV to enters into the commercialized phase.

Fig.15: Output Analysis and Forecast of Electric Automobile in China, 2011-2018

Source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

In the whole market of electric automobile, the output of Chinese electric automobile is still low. According to the statistics by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2012, the output of electric automobile was only 12,552. In 2013, it reached 14,243, up 13.5 % over 2012.

In 2014, the output and sales of electric vehicle were 48,605 and 45,048 respectively, up 2.4 times and 2.1 times over last year respectively; the output and sales of hybrid electric vehicle were 29,894 and 29,715 respectively, up 8.1 times and 8.8 times over last year respectively, which are obviously higher than that of electric vehicle, mainly because it is only the initial stage of new-energy automobile promotion in China, infrastructure construction is not complete relatively. In consideration of electric automobile mileage, hybrid electric vehicles are accepted more easily by consumers.

In 2014, four vehicle types among the electric vehicle types with sales ranking top 10 in global came from China: Kandi EV, Chery QQ3 EV, ZOTYE E20 and BAIC Motor E150/200EV, the total sales of these four types of vehicles were 30,463, accounting for 10% of the total sales in global (300,000). The growth rate of auto consumption market in China cannot be neglected by any auto manufacturer, and it can be believed that more new-energy automobiles will enter into the list in future.

Driven by national industry policies, electrical automobile will grow rapidly, it is predicted that the output of electric vehicle will increase to 273,150 by 2018.

The popularization of electric automobile faces many difficulties; however, with the development of vehicle technology, the difficulties for construction of charging facilities have begun to emerge, even, many experts consider Difficulties for charging is becoming the largest bottleneck for the popularization of electric automobile. Such problems as land use of charging stations and charging piles, property coordination, construction cost and benefit accounting etc are inevitable for electric automobile industry, which are also realized by the cities to be popularized, in the second group of cities approved to popularize, they all encourage to study and develop the related policies with regard to charging facilitates and make plans in accordance with urban conditions and characteristics. Now we will analyze and summarize the construction status quo and plan of charging stations (piles) in main 48 cities, it is planned that 369,500 of charging piles and over 3,789 charging stations will be built by 2015, in which, 35,000 of charging piles will be built in Beijing by 2015.

Tab.16: Construction of Charging Stations (Piles) in China
Construction of Charging Stations in Main 48 Cities of China
Date Number of charging station Number of charging piles
2014 723 28,000
By the end of 2015 (Planned) 3,789 369,500
Source: Huidian Research

In 2014, total of 723 charging station and 28,000 charging piles were built. The construction progress of charging station and charging pile was far lower than the requirements in Special Plan on Electric Vehicle S%T Development during the 12th Five-year Plan period issued by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People´s Republic of China in 2012: in 2015, power supply network system consisting of 400,000 charging piles and 2,000 charging station will be built in over 20 model cities and surrounding areas, so as to meet the energy demand by electric automobile large-scale commercialization . The lag of charging network construction has become the most important factor restricting new-energy automobile development.

Tab.17: Amount and Growth Rate of Charging Station


Source: Huidian Research

Tab.18: Amount and Growth Rate of Charging Pile


Source: Huidian Research