EV Charging Needs Surge in Chinese City

Why this is here: By the end of 2024, monthly electric vehicle electricity consumption in Chongqing, China, tripled to 57.5 gigawatt-hours, revealing rapid growth in demand.

Researchers at Chongqing University in China modeled electric vehicle charging demand and optimal infrastructure placement. They focused on the city of Chongqing to forecast needs from 2022 to 2030.

The team used a “bottom-up” approach to estimate electricity use by different types of electric vehicles. They then employed a computer algorithm to find the best locations for charging stations.

The study found monthly EV electricity use roughly tripled between June 2022 and the end of 2024, reaching 57.5 gigawatt-hours. Plug-in hybrid and extended-range EVs now account for about 58% of the total. Current charging stations are unevenly distributed, with most located in city centers and not enough available overall.

Their optimized plan achieved a performance score of 0.28, a substantial improvement over the current deployment score of 0.65. By 2030, Chongqing may need around 1.8 million charging units to maintain a ratio of nine private chargers for every one public charger. This research represents a single city’s data, and broader studies are needed to confirm these findings in other locations and account for varying EV adoption rates.