China Builds World's Largest EV Charging Network With 167,000 Stations (247wallst.com)

"It soon will become easier to charge a Chevy Bolt or Tesla in China," reports 24/7 Wall Street, citing reports from China's official newspaper that they've built the highest number of electric-car charging facilities in the world, offering "the broadest coverage, and the most advanced technology." AmiMoJo quotes their announcement: A total of 167,000 charging piles have now been connected to the telematics platform of the State Grid Corporation of China, making it the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network. By cooperating with 17 charging station operators, the SGCC now offers more than 1 million kilowatt-hours of power each day.
24/7 Wall Street says the ambitious (and government-subsidized) plan "is bound to help electronic car adoption since most vehicles in the category have ranges well under 300 miles."

Comments

China appears to be shooting for EV dominance

[RhettLivingston]

The strategy appears to be to lock in local producers for the bulk EV market while only letting foreign companies succeed at the high end and then to scale up quickly. Once they've achieved large scale production in the world's largest market, then they will seek to dominate the foreign markets. They will also have more of an excuse to use their own rare metals and charge higher prices to export them. Smart.

EV dominance will have side benefits in many other tech and energy spheres. It's an investment with potential similar to our Apollo investment half a century ago.

Re: China appears to be shooting for EV dominance

[jedidiah]

> The US falls further behind because anyone who participates in 'cooperation' is immediately called a communist and shunned from society.

You are confusing "cooperation" with "mandatory participation" enforced at the barrel of a gun. Nothing is stopping YOU personally from making better choices. The truth is that American consumerism is at odds with what needs to get done here.

It's also a lot easier to get things done when you can just boss everyone around and not have to worry about little niceties such as democracy and literacy.

I bet their trains run on time too.

Re:China appears to be shooting for EV dominance

[RhettLivingston]

It is a travesty that we miss so many low-flying opportunities. For example, the US school bus fleet is huge and generally terminal based. They almost never refuel anywhere but at their terminal. There would be zero need for refueling stations away from the terminals for the vast majority of school buses. They should be well on their way to being fully electric already.