Electric vehicle sales gain traction in rural areas

Charging stations

Lack of charging facilities is another problem that affects rural residents' enthusiasm about NEVs.

China is home to the world's largest charging network for NEVs. By the end of last year, there were 5.21 million charging piles and 1,973 battery-swap stations, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Yet most of them are located in cities, especially large ones, and only 9.45 percent of the piles and stations are in the countryside, said Tong Zongqi, deputy secretary of the China Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance. Cui, from the China Passenger Car Association, highlighted the need to promote the development of home chargers for rural families, in addition to the development of public charging stations.

Meng Wei, a spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference in May that a lack of charging facilities remains the largest obstacle to the growth of the domestic NEV industry, especially in rural areas.

She said solutions to the problem needed to be found "through innovative measures to promote the building, operation and maintenance of charging infrastructure in rural areas".

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has urged efforts to speed up the construction of charging infrastructure in rural regions to better promote NEVs and facilitate rural vitalization. It has also called for efforts to focus on solving bottlenecks that hamper NEVs' use in rural areas, building more charging facilities, and upgrading their construction, operations and maintenance.

A guideline released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration in May encouraged local rural governments to offer special incentives for the construction and operation of public charging facilities in their areas.

They were also urged to offer coupons to rural residents to encourage them to buy NEVs.

Wu Jianyuan, Party secretary of Huishan district in Wuxi, where this year's NEVsgoing-rural campaign was launched in June, told reporters that the district will seize the opportunity to boost NEV sales and accelerate construction of charging infrastructure.

For the duration of the campaign, the Wuxi government is offering total subsidies of up to 30 million yuan for NEV buyers.

Many other cities across the country have similar favorable policies in place.

In Zhengzhou, Henan province, authorities have earmarked 50 million yuan in coupons for NEV buyers who place their orders between June 21 and Aug 31.

In Sanya, Hainan province, NEVs buyers are eligible for up to 5,000 yuan if they place their orders before Aug 31.