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HEFEI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- As usual at 3 p.m., taxi driver Hu Chaohong drives into a multifunctional new energy vehicle (NEV) charging station in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. After scanning a code to charge his car, he goes to a waiting room in the station to relax and "charge" himself. Operational since late May this year, the station has five floors above the ground and one basement floor, with 185 charging piles for family cars and 12 for trucks. The station adopts the operation model of "charging + business" and has a resting area featuring eateries and convenience stores, providing meals and reading space for drivers, according to Chen Jingjing, deputy director of the NEV charging facilities investment and operation company of Hefei. "We aim to provide more services such as car washing, auto repair, and insurance for drivers in the near future," Chen added. Compared with outdoor charging stations, this multifunctional station not only protects cars from wind and rain but also makes the charging process safer, and car owners usually don't need to wait in line. "I come to the charging station twice every day to charge my vehicle, and it also provides hot water and a bathroom, which is very convenient," said Hu. In recent years, China's NEV industry has grown rapidly, and charging stations have become important public facilities, serving as a guarantee for the development and promotion of NEVs. As the world's major single market for electric vehicles, China has launched a series of policies to bolster the development of its booming NEV sector, which includes building a complete charging infrastructure network. In May, China released a guideline to encourage and support people living in rural areas to purchase and use NEVs, with a focus on boosting the construction of charging infrastructure. By the end of May, China had built more than 6.35 million units of charging infrastructure. Besides building a complete charging infrastructure network, governments at all levels across the country have also rolled out a raft of policy incentives to spur NEV production and marketing. In June, Anhui introduced a slew of measures to form an NEV industrial agglomeration. The province plans to see its automobile production scale exceed 3 million units, among which the NEV output will occupy over 40 percent. According to official statistics, the output value of the NEV industrial chain in Hefei exceeded 100 billion yuan (about 14.02 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022. The city has gathered a number of NEV makers and aims to build itself into the "capital of NEVs." "This multifunctional station has created a model for charging infrastructure construction in Hefei," said Chen. The project has also effectively alleviated the difficulty of the charging and parking of NEVs in Hefei's economic and technological development zone, with an average daily charging capacity of about 30,000 kWh, which can meet the charging demands of more than 1,000 NEVs, Chen added.
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