More charging stations planned for electric cars

BEIJING - State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) plans to build more electric charging stations in Beijing and several other cities this year to meet rising demand for electric vehicles, a Beijing newspapers reported Saturday.

The country's dominant electric power transmission company will build a network of charging stations in Beijing, Tianjin, Hefei and Nanchang this year, the Beijing News quoted SGCC general manager Liu Zhenya as saying.

The major service of the stations will be providing batteries that are already recharged, Liu said at the company's annual work meeting in Beijing.

"On average, oil-powered car owners spend 70 yuan ($10.6) on fuel cost for driving 100 kilometers at present. But a user of battery-powered auto just needs to pay 20 yuan for the same journey," Liu said.

He said the batteries will be mostly charged at night, and used batteries will be recycled by SGCC.

SGCC built 6,209 electric vehicle supply equipment at 75 charging stations in 27 Chinese cities last year, the newspaper said.

The company's move is part of the government's effort to promote the development of the electric auto industry, which has been listed as one of the country's seven emerging industries in September 2010.

The government aims to lift annual output of new energy vehicles to 500,000 units over the next three years, and boost sales to account for 5 percent of total passenger car sales.

However, for a long time, the lack of related infrastructures such as charging stations and the absence of a common standard on charging devices hindered the industry's growth.