There are 21.48 million charging guns in charging piles across the country, but the "pile owners" are still making losses: What exactly is wrong with this business?

In April 2026, the National Energy Administration announced a figure: the total number of charging piles across the country had reached 21.48 million units, a year-on-year increase of 47%. This figure is enough to make China the country with the largest scale of charging infrastructure in the world. However, many car owners still feel that it is still difficult to charge. And those who invest in this business still wonder - when can they get their investment back?

Behind the 21.48 million units: the truth about utilization rate

The scale figures are impressive, but there is a core indicator that has never been widely publicized - the utilization rate.

According to data from multiple industry sources, the overall utilization rate of public charging piles in China is currently less than 10%. In first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where competition is the most intense, the utilization rate is even less than 2%. This means that for most of the day, more than 90% of public charging piles are idle.

There is a key business logic behind this figure: according to industry calculations, based on an internal rate of return of 8% without government subsidies, the daily average utilization rate of a single charging pile should be at least over 8.5%, that is, the cumulative charging time per day should exceed 2 hours to achieve normal profitability. However, the utilization rate of most current operators is far below this break - even line.

▸ Total number of charging piles across the country: 21.48 million units, a year - on - year increase of 47% (Source: National Energy Administration, April 2026)

▸ Overall utilization rate of public charging piles across the country: less than 10% (Source: Guanyan Report Network, industry research, 2023)

▸ Break - even utilization rate threshold: over 8.5% per day, that is, a single charging pile should be charged for ≥2 hours per day (Source: Zhiyan Consulting)

▸ Teclian had continuous net losses from 2019 to 2022, with a cumulative loss of over 350 million yuan (Source: 36Kr, September 2025)

▸ Average price of charging service fees across the country: 0.2 - 0.5 yuan/kWh, with an average of about 0.3 yuan/kWh (Source: Interview with Wanbang Digital Energy by 21st Century Business Herald, November 2023)

The triple dilemmas of operators

▍Dilemma 1: Heavy assets and long pay - back period

Building a standard charging station with 30 60kW charging piles requires an initial total investment of nearly 2.2 million yuan. Among them, the cost of charging pile equipment accounts for about 30%, transformers and power distribution equipment account for about 45%, and auxiliary equipment accounts for about 25%. Under ideal conditions, the pay - back period is three to four years. In most cases, it is five to six years, and for some operators, it is even seven to eight years.

Some small and medium - sized operators have started to sell their charging stations. However, at the same time, new players are still continuously entering the market - because everyone believes that as long as they occupy high - quality locations first, when the market matures, the first - mover advantage will be a moat.

▍Dilemma 2: Homogeneous competition in service fees

More than 90% of the revenue of charging pile operators comes from charging service fees. However, the service fee prices across the country are highly homogeneous, generally ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 yuan/kWh, with an average of about 0.3 yuan/kWh. In the highly competitive urban core areas, operators actively lower the service fees to attract car owners, further squeezing the already thin profit margins.

Foreign operators have taken the lead in making adjustments. BP and Shell entered the Chinese charging market before. Due to the actual service fees (about 0.2 - 0.3 yuan/kWh) being far lower than expected (about 0.4 - 0.5 yuan/kWh), they successively scaled back or withdrew from some regions.

▍Dilemma 3: Mismatch between demand in time and space

Charging demand is highly concentrated from after work to 10 p.m., on weekends and holidays. The equipment is idle during off - peak hours, while there are queues during peak hours. The fixed costs of operators are the same day and night, but their revenue highly depends on the limited peak hours, so the asset utilization efficiency is naturally low.

There are 21.48 million charging piles, but most of the time, they are just waiting.

Have we found a way out? Three possible solutions

There are ways out for the industry, but they have not been verified on a large scale. Currently, there are three directions worthy of attention.

First, refined site selection and operation. Experienced operators will evaluate the competition situation within a 3 - kilometer radius before building a station, avoid saturated areas, and choose scenarios with sufficient parking spaces and regular traffic flow. Zheng Yun, a global senior partner at Roland Berger, believes that optimizing power configuration is one of the core means to improve utilization rate.

Second, replace slow - charging with ultra - fast charging to improve the economic model with efficiency. The popularization of 800V high - voltage platform vehicles is promoting ultra - fast charging piles to become the mainstream. The break - even point of the utilization rate of ultra - fast charging piles (about 3.6%) is much lower than that of slow - charging piles (about 10%), and the higher single - charging revenue also means faster capital recovery.

Third, V2G and virtual power plants, upgrading from charging equipment to grid assets. When charging stations can participate in power demand response and power trading, their commercial value will no longer be limited to service fees. This path is technically feasible, but the policy implementation and business model are still under exploration.

The 21.48 million charging piles are not the end, but the beginning. Before the business model is successful, the more the quantity, the higher the cost.

Currently, no operator in the charging pile business can claim to have "found the way". However, it must be made to work - because the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is still accelerating, and charging anxiety is becoming an implicit obstacle affecting car - buying decisions. Whoever finds the way to sustainable profitability first will become the real protagonist in this trillion - level market.

This article is only for information sharing and industry analysis, and does not constitute any investment advice, investment analysis opinion or trading invitation. The market is risky, and investment should be made with caution. Any investment decision made based on the content of this article, the risks and profits and losses shall be borne by the decision - maker himself, and the author and the publishing platform shall not bear any legal liability.

Information sources

1. National Energy Administration: National charging pile statistics (April 2026)

2. 36Kr: From gas stations to charging stations, who is reaping the benefits of the new era (September 2025)

3. 21st Century Business Herald: Difficult to dig gold in the 100 - billion charging market - Interview with Wang Di of Wanbang Digital Energy (November 2023)

4. Dagong Global Credit Rating: Outlook for the charging pile industry in 2026 (February 2026)

5. Zhiyan Consulting: Analysis of the profitability and market competition pattern of China's charging pile industry

This article is from the WeChat official account "BT Finance" (ID: btcjv1), author: Shuyan, published by 36Kr with authorization.