Four departments jointly issued a document: Automobile enterprises' self - built high - power charging facility networks should be open without discrimination. NIO and Li Auto responded.
On July 7, four departments including the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") on promoting the scientific planning and construction of high-power charging facilities. The Notice pointed out that it is necessary to further optimize and improve the layout of China's charging facility network and steadily build a high-power charging infrastructure system with a reasonable layout, upgraded quality, and advanced technology. By the end of 2027, it is planned to have more than 100,000 high-power charging facilities nationwide, and achieve iterative upgrades in service quality and technology application.
In addition, the Notice also mentioned that in principle, the high-power charging facility networks self-built by new energy vehicle enterprises should be open without discrimination.
In recent years, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has steadily increased. The importance of charging facilities as supporting infrastructure is self-evident. Among them, high-power fast charging, as one of the ways to solve the anxiety about energy replenishment, is favored by many new energy vehicle enterprises.
After the release of the above Notice, Times Finance interviewed several new energy vehicle enterprises including NIO, Li Auto, BYD, and Tesla on July 8 regarding their relevant measures.
Li Auto told Times Finance that as of now, more than 7,000 4C supercharging piles and more than 6,000 2C supercharging piles in the Li Auto Supercharger Network are currently open to all new energy vehicle models.
NIO said to Times Finance, "NIO Power charging piles are open to all new energy vehicle users in the industry and provide intelligent charging services covering the whole process from finding a pile to payment." As of July 8, there were 2,882 NIO Supercharger Stations with 13,303 supercharging piles.
In addition, Times Finance learned that Tesla's fourth-generation Superchargers are open to all brand owners.
Multiple Automobile Enterprises Open Supercharging Piles to the Public
In the early stage of the development of new energy vehicles, the insufficient and unbalanced development of domestic charging facilities led to some disputes over the topic of "open sharing of charging facilities". The competition for charging piles even triggered industry discussions. In addition, limited by factors such as compatibility issues of charging piles, at that time, some brands with large-scale charging networks had limited openness.
Taking Tesla, which has an early and extensive supercharger network construction, as an example, for a long time in the past, Tesla's Supercharger Stations in the Chinese market were only open to Tesla owners. On April 25, 2023, Tesla announced a pilot opening of its charging network to some non-Tesla new energy vehicles in the Chinese mainland.
In recent years, with the increase in the market share of new energy vehicles, the interconnection and sharing of charging networks among automobile enterprises have also accelerated.
The Notice pointed out that in principle, the high-power charging facility networks self-built by new energy vehicle enterprises should be open without discrimination.
Li Auto told Times Finance that as of now, there are more than 2,800 supercharger stations and more than 15,000 supercharging piles in the Li Auto Supercharger Network across the country. Among them, more than 7,000 4C supercharging piles and more than 6,000 2C supercharging piles are currently open to all new energy vehicle models.
"NIO Power charging piles are open to all new energy vehicle users in the industry and provide intelligent charging services covering the whole process from finding a pile to payment. Users can view real-time information such as the location, price, status, usage, and user reviews of NIO Power charging piles across the country through the NIO App, the NIO Power App, and the NIO in-vehicle system, and make quick charging decisions." NIO said to Times Finance. As of July 8, there were 2,882 NIO Supercharger Stations with 13,303 supercharging piles.
In addition, Tesla's third-generation Superchargers are open to some other brand vehicles, while the fourth-generation Superchargers are open to all brands. It is reported that as of June 2025, Tesla has deployed more than 2,100 Supercharger Stations with 11,600 Superchargers in more than 350 cities in China, including business districts, commercial areas, and highway service areas. Users can check the real-time status of charging piles through the in-vehicle navigation.
Automobile enterprises are competing to layout supercharger stations. How to build high-power charging facilities? The above Notice also gives the key points.
The Notice mentioned that charging construction and operation enterprises should strictly carry out the site selection, design, construction, and fire protection facility layout of high-power charging stations in accordance with national standards. Charging operation enterprises should strengthen the management of equipment procurement, verify the product qualification certificates, compulsory product certification (CCC certification) and other information of charging piles and supporting equipment to ensure compliance with quality regulations.
In addition, it is encouraged to build intelligent and orderly high-power charging stations, establish an efficient interaction mechanism between high-power charging stations and the distribution network, build photovoltaic power generation and energy storage facilities according to local conditions, explore optimized methods for determining the power access capacity of intelligent and orderly high-power charging stations, make reasonable use of the low-valley capacity margin of power distribution facilities, and improve the access capacity of the distribution network to high-power charging stations.
The Demand for Rapid Energy Replenishment is Prominent
Behind the policy support for the accelerated application and popularization of high-power charging facilities, the demand for fast charging and other energy replenishment methods is becoming increasingly prominent. Currently, the competition in the new energy vehicle market is becoming more intense. The density of supercharger stations and the convenience of energy replenishment still directly affect the sales of pure electric products.
"As of the end of 2024, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 31.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 53.85%. The ratio of vehicles to charging piles was 2.4:1, and there was still a large gap between the supply and demand of charging piles. Improving the battery energy density and shortening the charging time are the two key ways to solve the range anxiety and energy replenishment anxiety of new energy vehicles." Dongguan Securities pointed out in a research report that currently, public charging piles are still mainly low-power, and the penetration rate of fast charging is insufficient. To alleviate the energy replenishment anxiety of potential consumers and further release the consumption potential of the new energy vehicle market, the development of fast charging piles has become an inevitable trend.
According to the plan, by the end of 2027, it is planned to have more than 100,000 high-power charging facilities nationwide, and achieve iterative upgrades in service quality and technology application.
Currently, there is no clear standard definition for supercharging in China. Taking Shenzhen, which aims to become a supercharging city, as an example, its standard is that the rated power of a single gun of supercharging equipment should be no less than 480 kilowatts.
BYD has pushed the charging power to 1 megawatt (1000kW). In March this year, BYD launched a megawatt-level charging solution. Wang Chuanfu, the Chairman and President of BYD Group, once said, "Make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refueling time of fuel vehicles and achieve the same speed as fuel vehicles in terms of charging speed."
The competition among automobile enterprises around charging speed is also approaching a white-hot stage. Huawei, Zeekr and others have also successively launched megawatt-level flash charging. Previously, the highest mass-produced charging rate in the industry was 6C. "C" refers to the charging rate. A 6C battery means that the battery can be fully charged in one-sixth of its rated capacity time, that is, it can be charged to 80% in about 10 minutes.
However, supercharging and even megawatt-level flash charging pose higher challenges to power distribution, vehicle three-electric systems, etc.
Dongguan Securities pointed out that at the charging pile end, it is mainly reflected in the increasing demand for high-power charging modules and higher requirements for thermal management during high-power charging, and liquid cooling technology is more suitable. At the vehicle end, it is mainly reflected in higher requirements for high-voltage components of the three-electric and small three-electric systems. The iterative upgrades of the main components of the vehicle's high-voltage architecture are reflected in the trend of SiC power devices replacing IGBTs, the upgrade of the safety performance of high-voltage system components, and the iterative upgrade of the battery material system.
Lian Yubo, the Executive Vice President of BYD Group and the Dean of the Automotive Engineering Research Institute, once revealed that to match ultra-high-power charging, BYD has independently developed and mass-produced a new generation of vehicle-grade silicon carbide power chips with a voltage level of 1500V.
In addition, Minsheng Securities believes that the usage distribution of electric vehicles in China is unbalanced. How to reasonably allocate power supply in different regions and at different times is a key issue. The instantaneous high-power demand of high-power charging piles may have a certain impact on power distribution, especially when using 800V super-fast charging, the charging power can reach up to 480kW, which is 4 to 6 times the power of current mainstream charging piles. This may lead to load fluctuations in the power grid and make it impossible to deploy a large number of charging piles.
Li Auto previously told Times Finance that the large-scale simultaneous access of supercharging piles will indeed bring some pressure to the power grid. However, in fact, supercharger stations have two technical advantages. Firstly, they generally adopt a product solution of a power stack with split charging piles, so the maximum access load is controllable from the perspective of the power grid. Secondly, the continuous high-power charging time of supercharging piles is short.
It said, "The load access of supercharger stations also needs to go through very detailed demonstration and review by the power grid company. The power grid company is also continuously carrying out the construction and transformation of the distribution network. When our supercharger stations are deployed in service areas, if the surrounding load redundancy is full, there are also ways to solve the problem. There are mainly three ways: jointly solve the problem with partners, including but not limited to capacity expansion and transformation, joint construction and transformation of external lines, and EMS management; put forward requirements and wait for the power grid company to carry out unified distribution network transformation and improvement; discuss with the power grid to change the power engineering plan, mainly the change of the access point and path, to meet the load demand."
This article is from the WeChat official account “Times Finance APP” (ID: tf - app), author: He Qing, published by 36Kr with authorization.