Holiday rush fuels motorway charging

China saw a surge in private car travel during the Spring Festival holiday, with new energy vehicle traffic driving expressway charging to a record high.

The National Energy Administration said from Feb 15 to 23, expressway charging totaled 6.02 million transactions. Total electricity supplied reached 149.77 million kilowatt-hours, while daily average charging volume stood at 16.64 million kWh — a record and up 52.01 percent year-on-year.

The NEA added that the figures were compiled from 53,300 highway chargers connected to the national charging infrastructure monitoring platform.

The peak performance came amid robust holiday road travel. The Ministry of Transport said the average daily number of driving trips was nearly 270 million, up 8.3 percent year-on-year. NEV traffic on expressways averaged about 11.52 million vehicle trips a day, an increase of 34 percent from 2025.

To ease pressure during peak travel periods and on busy routes, localities deployed an average of about 1,900 mobile charging units a day to strengthen emergency support at expressway service areas, the MOT said.

The State Taxation Administration said revenue from vehicle charging services rose 163.9 percent year-on-year during the holiday.

Analysts say the data point to brisk charging demand, supported by a larger NEV fleet and improved expressway charging services, and highlight a broader shift toward low-carbon travel.

To meet the surge in holiday charging demand, China has been stepping up expressway charging capacity and improving service efficiency, particularly during peak travel periods.

By the end of 2025, highway service areas nationwide had installed about 71,500 chargers, according to the MOT.

For particularly busy service areas, the MOT said tailored plans were put in place. Measures included deploying mobile emergency chargers, diverting drivers to nearby charging sites off expressway exits, and improving charger utilization through better on-site management.

The MOT also upgraded an online tool allowing motorists to check charger availability and queues at service areas in real time, helping them plan charging stops and ease congestion at busy sites.

Major utilities also stepped up holiday support. State Grid Corp of China said it rolled out measures ahead of the holiday and provided 24-hour online and on-site assistance, including strengthened dispatching, patrols at key stations and round-the-clock platform monitoring to guide orderly charging.

China Southern Power Grid said it carried out electricity safety checks ahead of the holiday at 2,225 charging sites along expressways and national and provincial trunk roads. It inspected about 120,000 charging connectors to help ensure equipment availability.

At the provincial level, authorities adjusted deployments based on traffic patterns. Shandong province said expressway service areas provided more than 3,800 EV charging spaces, up more than 30 percent from 2025's Spring Festival travel rush.

In Jiangsu province, the number of chargers at highway service areas exceeded 3,500, up 70 percent year-on-year, and about 80 mobile charging terminals were deployed along busy corridors to bolster emergency support.

Looking ahead, the NEA said it will step up a three-year initiative to double EV charging infrastructure capacity, with upgrades planned for expressway service areas to better meet NEV travel demand during major holidays.

wangyuchen@chinadaily.com.cn