NEA: highway EV charging hits 2.97m sessions in first three holiday days
Version 2: Additional outlets, including 36Kr, Jiemian and China News Service, carried the same National Energy Administration figures, but the numbers and the substance of the release were unchanged.
In short
China's National Energy Administration reported 2.9686 million highway electric-vehicle charging sessions and 71.6193 million kWh of charging in the first three days of the National Day holiday, up 48.41% and 49.39% from the same period last year. The NEA said highway charging infrastructure ran smoothly and that it will strengthen dispatch and monitoring as the return-travel peak approaches. The Ministry of Transport expects 30 highway service areas to be especially busy on Oct 4, mainly in Hebei, Henan and Liaoning, according to IT Home.
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The National Energy Administration said highway electric-vehicle charging demand was strong during the first three days of the National Day holiday and that highway charging infrastructure ran smoothly. From 00:00 on Oct 1 to 24:00 on Oct 3, China recorded 2.9686 million highway EV charging sessions, an average of 989,500 a day, up 48.41% from the same period of last year's holiday, according to figures carried by CLS, Yicai, 36Kr, Jiemian and China News Service. Charging volume reached 71.6193 million kWh, an average of 23.8731 million kWh a day, up 49.39% year on year. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
The statistics were compiled from 62,700 highway charging facilities, described as guns, included in the national charging facility monitoring and service platform. The NEA said the penetration of green travel during holidays continued to rise and that the trend of people using new energy vehicles for long-distance trips was becoming more evident. All the outlets reported the same figures and the same characterisation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
Looking ahead, the NEA said the coming days would bring the holiday return-travel peak and that it would work with relevant parties to further strengthen dispatch and monitoring to keep supporting new energy vehicle travel during the holiday. Yicai, Jiemian and China News Service carried that statement. [ 2 , 5 , 6 ]
IT Home, citing the Ministry of Transport's dynamic assessment, reported that 30 highway service areas are expected to be especially busy on Oct 4, mainly in Hebei, Henan and Liaoning provinces, and that drivers can check the operating status of service-area chargers through the “e路畅通” WeChat mini-program to plan their trips. The documents give no station-level detail on waiting times or on whether individual chargers were out of service. [ 3 ]
The numbers came from a single NEA release, published to its official WeChat account and reported by CLS, Yicai, IT Home, 36Kr, Jiemian and China News Service within about three hours. Apart from IT Home's transport-ministry addition, the outlets carried the same figures and the same description of the period, with no independent verification, no charging-operator comment and no driver accounts in the documents. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
Why it matters
The figures give a measure of how heavily China's highway charging network is used during peak holiday travel, a test of infrastructure that the NEA says it is monitoring closely. The stated year-on-year growth also indicates a faster shift toward long-distance travel in electric vehicles, a pattern relevant to charging operators, grid planners and carmakers.
Key facts
- From 00:00 on Oct 1 to 24:00 on Oct 3, China recorded 2.9686 million highway EV charging sessions, an average of 989,500 a day, up 48.41% from the same period of last year's National Day holiday. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- Charging volume over the same three days reached 71.6193 million kWh, an average of 23.8731 million kWh a day, up 49.39% year on year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- The statistics were compiled from 62,700 highway charging facilities (guns) included in the national charging facility monitoring and service platform. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- The NEA said holiday green-travel penetration continued to rise and the trend of people using new energy vehicles for long-distance trips was becoming more evident. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- The NEA said it will work with relevant parties to strengthen dispatch and monitoring ahead of the holiday return-travel peak. [ 2 , 5 , 6 ]
- The Ministry of Transport expects 30 highway service areas to be especially busy on Oct 4, mainly in Hebei, Henan and Liaoning, and drivers can check charger status through the “e路畅通” WeChat mini-program. [ 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The figures were released by the National Energy Administration, which said charging demand was strong and highway charging infrastructure ran smoothly. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- Highway EV charging sessions in the first three days of the National Day holiday totalled 2.9686 million, up 48.41% year on year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- Highway charging volume in the same period was 71.6193 million kWh, up 49.39% year on year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- The statistics cover 62,700 highway charging guns tracked by the national charging facility monitoring and service platform. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- The NEA said it would work with relevant parties to strengthen dispatch and monitoring for the coming holiday return-travel peak. [ 2 , 5 , 6 ]
Still unclear
- Which specific service areas will be especially busy on Oct 4. Only the count of 30 and three provinces — Hebei, Henan and Liaoning — are given, and only by one outlet citing the Ministry of Transport's dynamic assessment; the full list is not published.
- Whether any drivers faced queues, wait times or chargers out of service during the period. The documents state only that infrastructure ran smoothly and give no station-level availability or waiting-time data.
- The figures from the national charging platform are not independently verified. Every document traces back to one NEA release on its WeChat account; the documents contain no charging-operator comment, driver accounts or separate data source.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Start of the counting window: the NEA statistics cover Oct 1 00:00 to Oct 3 24:00. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]
- CLS publishes the National Energy Administration figures on highway EV charging over the first three days of the holiday. [ 1 ]
- Yicai publishes the same figures, including the NEA's plan to strengthen dispatch and monitoring for the return peak. [ 2 ]
- IT Home publishes the figures and adds the Ministry of Transport forecast that 30 highway service areas will be especially busy on Oct 4. [ 3 ]
- Jiemian publishes the release, citing the NEA's WeChat account and carrying the return-peak statement. [ 5 ]
- China News Service publishes the figures, also crediting the NEA WeChat account. [ 6 ]
- China News Service issues a Beijing-datelined report by Wang Mengyao with the same figures. [ 7 ]