Beijing plans massive infrastructure boost to support electric cars

Photo credit: Wendell Oskay.

China’s government wants to encourage everyone to switch over to electric vehicles (EVs). That’s no surprise given the pollution issues in many major Chinese cities, but here’s just how seriously this is being taken: Beijing plans to expand the number of available electric charging spots to twenty times today’s number by the year 2020.

According to official state media, Beijing’s Development and Reform Commission (BDRC) plans call for setting up 435,000 charging spots to support the estimated 600,000 new EVs that will be on the capital’s roads by then. The plan is to be sure that there’s always a charging station within 1 km of any spot in metropolitan Beijing and surrounding districts like Tongzhou and Yizhuang.

Beijing’s traffic. Photo credit: Jonathan Kos-Read.

The BDRC also wants electric car owners to have a charging station of some kind at their homes, although no details about how that goal will be realized have been released.

China is expected to lead the global EV market by 2020, and vehicle manufacturers all over the world are hoping to be in on the action. At present, many of China’s cities also provide significant subsidies to those who purchase electric vehicles, although many of those subsidies are designed to decrease over time as more EVs are sold.