New-energy car rules around corner

A driver swipes a card to pay for charging his electric car. Standards are being revised for the sector and are expected to cover charging posts and electric vehicle sockets, enabling new-energy cars from different marques to share charging posts. [Li Zhong / For China Daily]

National standards expected to allow different models to share charging infrastructure

Electric vehicles from different manufacturers in China should soon be able to share charging facilities as the country is expected to release new charging standards soon.

"The revisions are finished and will be released in August," Xu Xinchao, an official at Beijing's science commission, told reporters in late July.

Xu said the revised standards will cover charging posts and electric vehicle sockets, adding they would enable new-energy cars from different models to share charging posts.

China's current national standards for charging involve general matters such as interfaces but do not cover such specific parameters as charging facilities or electric car voltages and power capacity.

Due to the lack of national standards in those aspects, some vehicles cannot get a full charge from the charging facilities of other manufacturers, a salesman at Denza, a joint venture between BYD and Daimler, told Beijing Business Today.

Tesla owners have even bigger problems with charging as the automaker uses US standards for their facilities in China. That means Tesla cars cannot recharge at public charging facilities in China and electric vehicles from other manufacturers cannot use Tesla's charging posts.

Many brands including Tesla said they would make adjustments to their vehicles and charging infrastructure when the revised national standards are released.

Industry insiders believe the new standards will promote the popularity of new-energy vehicles in the country, as mileage anxiety remains one of the biggest headaches for people who own or plan to purchase electric vehicles in China.

"The revised national standards will help ease people's worries about charging their cars and sales of new-energy vehicles will see rapid growth when the standards are in place," said Beijing-based independent auto analyst Zhang Zhiyong.

New-energy vehicles are already gaining momentum in China. Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that China sold 21,055 such vehicles in June, more than double the figure of a year earlier.