NEW public-charging piles for electric vehicles (EVs) in China saw stable expansion in August, industry data showed Monday. Some 61,000 public charging piles were added last month, increasing 39.9% from the same period last year, said the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance. From September 2022 to August 2023, around 54,000 new piles were built on average each month, said the alliance. The rapid growth in charging facilities is in line with the country’s booming new energy vehicle (NEV) sector. China’s NEVs include pure electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. In its latest move to boost NEV development, China said it aims to bring this year’s NEV sales to 9 million units, an increase of 30% year on year, according to a work plan unveiled in early September. China sold about 6.89 million NEVs in 2022, up 93.4% year on year. The market share of NEVs in China’s auto market reached 25.6% in 2022, up 12.1 percentage points from 2021. China’s new energy vehicle industry has experienced rapid development in recent years. In the first half of 2023, China’s NEV sales surged 44.1% year on year to almost 3.75 million units, compared with a 9.8% rise in total automobile sales, while output of new energy vehicles during the period jumped to 3.79 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. (SD-Xinhua) | 