From gas stations to charging stations, who is reaping the rewards in the new era?
In 2023, Gu Tian, a middle - aged unemployed employee from a major Internet company in Beijing, heard that a friend had earned 8 million yuan in a year by selling charging piles. "There were only seven or eight employees, and it was all pure profit." After some research, he decided to enter the industry.
When negotiating for a charging station, he met the security minister of the property management through an intermediary. The other party was straightforward, "I know you might be recording. It doesn't matter. Our rule is that we can accept (money), and half of it goes to the company." In the end, for this station with a total investment of over 2 million yuan, the "entrance fee" for greasing palms cost nearly 200,000 yuan.
"When we entered this market, we had to scramble for many sites. You don't have much time to think, nor the chance to wait for the other party to show their bottom line," Gu Tian said.
This is a microcosm of the wave of charging pile investments in China in recent years.
China has built the world's largest electric vehicle charging network. According to data from the National Energy Administration, as of the end of July 2025, the number of charging infrastructures in China reached 16.696 million, ten times that at the end of 2020. There are two charging piles for every five electric vehicles. From January to July 2025, the electricity consumption of electric vehicle charging and swapping services increased by more than 40% year - on - year.
As a representative of the "new three exports," the rapid growth of China's new energy vehicles has spurred the demand for charging piles and brought about a historical turning point in the energy consumption mode of China's road traffic.
As the situation changes, the Economic and Technological Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corporation judged at the beginning of 2025 that 2024 was the inflection point of China's refined oil (gasoline, kerosene, diesel) consumption. By 2030, 20,000 gas stations will be phased out. Annual report data shows that in the first half of 2025, the domestic gasoline consumption of PetroChina (601857.SH) and Sinopec (600028.SH) decreased by 4.2% and 4.6% year - on - year respectively.
Compared with gas stations, there are far more players in the charging station market.
Statistics from Zhuochuang Information show that at the end of 2024, among about 120,000 gas stations in China, Sinopec and PetroChina together accounted for about 46%, 52% were privately - owned, and about 2% were foreign - owned. However, relying on their advantages in quantity and location distribution, the two giants occupied most of the retail market share.
In the charging station market, according to data from the National Energy Administration, among large - scale charging operation service providers, private enterprises accounted for more than 80%. According to data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, as of July 2025, the top five public charging facility operators were Teclai, Star Charge, Xiaoju, Yunkuaichong, and Weijingyun, all of which are private enterprises.
In the early stage of new energy vehicle development, the two major power grid companies, State Grid and China Southern Power Grid, were the main forces in charging infrastructure construction and still operate a considerable number of charging stations to this day. As the penetration rate of new energy vehicles continues to increase, "the two giants" (Sinopec and PetroChina), new energy vehicle manufacturers, and local state - owned assets have continuously entered the market. Coupled with social capital from various backgrounds, the investors and operators of charging piles are far more diverse than those of gas stations.
The trend of the gradual reduction of gas stations and the increasing number of charging stations is irreversible. While the gas station market has entered a phase of shrinking competition, the competition in the charging station market is still in its infancy. It not only has more players but also more complex business forms and more intense competition. It is no longer a business where you can "lie back and make money."
Charging stations are like convenience stores, numerous and scattered. However, charging stations only sell one product - electricity. Charging station operators are all distributors of the two major power grid companies. There are no special thresholds for the investment and operation of charging stations. The land resources for station construction are scattered, and the market environments vary. This makes it difficult for a few enterprises to monopolize the charging pile business at this stage.
Due to the different energy - supplementing media, the operation mode of charging piles is also very different from that of gas stations. Oil is convenient for centralized transportation, storage, and retail. However, electricity is difficult to store and relies on the power grid for instantaneous transmission. Its energy - supplementing efficiency is still far lower than that of refueling.
The popularization of charging facilities is very important for the popularization of electric vehicles. As of July 2025, among the 16.696 million charging piles nationwide, 4.202 million were public piles, and 12.494 million were private piles.
The main source of income for public charging pile operators is the charging service fee, which is relatively single. Intensified competition has led to continuous price cuts - in some places, the service fee per kilowatt - hour of public charging piles has dropped to 0.1 - 0.2 yuan, or even less than 0.1 yuan, while the service fee per kilowatt - hour was 0.4 - 0.5 yuan three years ago.
Due to the rapid technological progress, this industry has begun to undergo a process of renewal. The lease contracts of the earliest - built charging stations are expiring one after another, and some old and inefficient stations will be gradually replaced. New vehicle - grid interaction technologies, virtual power plants, and faster flash - charging technologies are expanding the imagination space of charging stations.
Although the competition in the charging market is already very fierce, many interviewees believe that its development has just begun. According to data from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of June 2025, the total number of passenger cars in China was 359 million, among which 36.89 million were new energy vehicles, accounting for 10.27%. Among them, 25.54 million were pure - electric vehicles, accounting for 7.11%. This means that new energy vehicles still have a large space to replace fuel - powered vehicles. In the foreseeable future, the number of new energy vehicles in use will reach hundreds of millions, which means a huge new charging market.
01
The "Arena" of Charging Stations
The threshold for the charging station business is not high, but actually getting a charging station into operation is far more complicated than expected.
The construction of charging piles in China is closely related to the sales volume of new energy vehicles.
Before 2014, thanks to major international events such as the Olympics and the World Expo and policy support such as the "Ten Cities, One Thousand Vehicles" program, new energy vehicles were first demonstrated and applied in the public service field. Charging piles mainly served public transportation and were mainly invested and built by central state - owned enterprises such as State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, and China Putian.
Since 2014, new energy vehicles have been widely promoted to consumers, and private enterprises have been allowed to participate in charging pile construction. At that time, the scale of new energy vehicles was relatively small. Government subsidies reduced the risks of over - construction, but there were also cases of false reporting for subsidies. Coupled with a lack of experience and data, blind site selection and haphazard construction led to the emergence of "zombie charging piles."
Around 2018, with the accelerated electrification of ride - hailing cars, public charging piles developed rapidly, and social capital began to pour in. After 2020, the sales volume of new energy vehicles increased explosively. Various central state - owned enterprises, including Sinopec and PetroChina, and local state - owned assets also entered the market one after another. At the same time, private cars became the main consumer force. Data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the "China Charging Alliance") shows that the proportion of private charging piles increased from 56% in 2021 to 75% at the end of July 2025.
The threshold for the charging industry is not high, and it is not difficult to enter. However, actually getting a charging station into operation is far more complicated than expected.
Gu Tian started investing in charging piles in 2023. Before the investment, he learned that oil giants such as Sinopec were aggressively acquiring charging stations in Beijing. Based on the service fee of 0.4 - 0.5 yuan per kilowatt - hour within the Fourth Ring Road at that time, the investment could be recouped in three to four years, with an investment return rate of over 10%. He judged that it was worth doing.
The construction of a charging station generally goes through six stages: site inspection and selection, site negotiation, power application, project construction, platform launch, and operation and maintenance. In Beijing, this cycle is about 4 - 6 months. Among them, land, power, and passenger flow are the three most critical factors.
To obtain land resources, the property management of shopping malls, office buildings, residential communities, and industrial parks is usually the first hurdle. There were veterans in this industry in Gu Tian's team, but they still couldn't avoid all the pitfalls. The information in this industry is not transparent, and it highly depends on relationships and intermediaries. In Gu Tian's case, the intermediary fee for one charging gun was 3,000 yuan. For a station with 24 guns, the intermediary fee was more than 70,000 yuan. According to the rules, after paying this money to the intermediary, the other party would handle everything. However, sometimes the fees for greasing the palms of the property management and the property owners also had to be paid separately.
"So large companies can't directly build stations themselves. The station - building process is too trivial and involves too many under - the - table transactions. Large companies can't do it. They can only acquire existing stations," Gu Tian said.
Some operators also pay a few hundred yuan per month to the staff of the station's property management. A property management staff of a shopping mall told Caijing that if the negotiation with a cooperation partner goes badly, the parking lot can change the entrance and exit guiding routes, making it difficult to find the charging piles of the other party, or even prevent cars from entering. On the other hand, it is more convenient to pay a small amount of money to the surrounding security guards and cleaners to manage the hygiene than to hire special staff for maintenance.
Different from Gu Tian, who relied on intermediaries, Fan Yang, who started investing in charging piles in 2019, had accumulated certain resources before entering the industry. However, when the industry was booming, relying solely on personal connections was not enough.
At the beginning of 2023, Fan Yang took a fancy to a landmark building resource in Chaoyang District, Beijing. His competitors were Xiaoju, BP, Shell, and PetroChina. As a small - and - medium - sized operator, his bid for the parking space rent was not the highest, so Fan Yang didn't have a high chance of winning originally. However, due to the decline in the rental rate after the pandemic, the office building's performance in that year did not meet the target, and the other party hoped to receive three - year rent at once. Since large companies have strict internal approval processes and numerous procedures, Fan Yang finally managed to secure this location by biting the bullet.
Generally speaking, there are three cooperation models between operators and landowners: paying a fixed monthly rent per parking space, profit sharing, and guaranteed rent + profit sharing. Many operators emphasized that clear property rights are very important. Many sites cannot be directly contracted with the property owner. Signing a contract with the property management is already relatively ideal. If signing a contract with a second - hand landlord or a parking lot management company, the contract term needs to be confirmed with each level during the signing process; otherwise, the risk is very high.
Securing the land is just the first step. The next step is to obtain power resources. Depending on the scenario, the scale of the station, and the surrounding conditions, there are two power - using modes for charging stations: general industrial and commercial power consumption and large - scale industrial power consumption. The latter usually has a lower electricity price per kilowatt - hour.
Gu Tian mentioned that in Beijing, when a charging station uses the power of the site provider, it generally applies to change the nature of industrial and commercial power consumption to new - energy large - scale industrial power consumption (power reduction) to obtain a more favorable electricity price. If a new transformer is selected during the construction, it can directly apply for a new - energy large - scale industrial power user account. However, he said that both the application for power reduction and the application for a new transformer project require greasing palms. According to Caijing, it costs about 300,000 - 400,000 yuan to install a transformer in other places, while in Beijing, it costs 600,000 yuan.
Depending on the scale, the investment in a public fast - charging station generally ranges from hundreds of thousands to millions of yuan. According to the "Sustainable Development Report on High - Quality Charging Infrastructure" by Huawei, usually, the cost of the charging pile body accounts for about 35% - 45% of the total investment, the cost of power introduction accounts for about 30%, and the cost of infrastructure construction accounts for about 25% - 35%.
There is also inevitable "business negotiation" in the platform launch stage. Various charging operation platforms and map apps are the entry points for users to find charging stations. In addition to third - party platforms such as Xiaoju and Yunkuaichong, charging pile enterprises, power grid companies, local state - owned assets, and vehicle manufacturers also develop their own platforms. Gu Tian's charging station was launched on the Xiaoju and Kuaidian platforms. Xiaoju is a wholly - owned subsidiary of Didi. It dominates the ride - hailing car traffic and has strong bargaining power. "However, its game rules are not clear. When to hold promotions and what the discount rate will be all need to be negotiated." Kuaidian is a company under the Nenglian Group. It is relatively weaker than Xiaoju and adopts a subsidy strategy. "Although the subsidy rules are clear, there is also room for negotiation on the duration of subsidy effectiveness."
In the early stage of the industry's development, most charging platforms were free. In recent years, a model based on service fee commission has gradually been established. Currently, Xiaoju's commission rate for ordinary operators is about 15%, with certain discounts for large enterprises. Yunkuaichong's commission rate is about 10%. In addition, apps such as Gaode and Baidu Maps usually charge a fixed fee. For example, Baidu Map charges 100,000 yuan for four years to list a charging station, and Gaode charges 1.5 yuan per station per day for charging stations connected through the operation platform.
In addition to the rent, fixed - asset investment, and platform fees mentioned above, operators usually also need to bear the costs of operation and maintenance, power loss, and solving the problem of fuel - powered cars occupying charging spaces. If they want to create quality and differentiation, they often need to purchase insurance, set up rest areas, and provide 24 - hour hot water services. Some interviewed operators are very optimistic about value - added services and expect to increase revenue through services such as catering, convenience stores, unmanned retail, and self - service car washing. However, some operators believe that there are risks in both the operation qualification and the cost investment.
Half a year after Gu Tian built his first charging station, Beijing cancelled the operation subsidy, which was like a "bolt from the blue" to him. The operation subsidy in Beijing used to be 0.2 yuan per kilowatt - hour in the early years and later dropped to 0.1 yuan, which was still very considerable. On the other hand, within this half - year period, nearly 300 charging guns were added within a 3 - kilometer radius of his charging station.
Gu Tian entered the industry because he saw that his friend made a lot of money by selling charging piles. However, he didn't expect that running a charging station would be so difficult. Currently, he has sold two of his charging stations.