NEV charging demand at highway facilities across China climbed during the October 1–7 National Day holiday, according to figures released by the National Energy Administration. Drivers made 6.711 million charging sessions and used 163 million kWh of electricity over the seven days. Average daily consumption was 23.26 million kWh, 51.42% higher than a year earlier.
The busiest day was October 1, when highway charging volume reached 28.05 million kWh. That was 60.40% above the first day of the previous year’s holiday and the highest single-day total recorded for a holiday period. In the first three days of this year’s break, there were 2.9686 million sessions and 71.62 million kWh of consumption; average daily use was up 49.39% year on year.
The reported figures cover 62,700 highway charging facilities monitored by the national charging-infrastructure platform, compared with 48,400 during the corresponding period last year. The NEA said service-area facilities operated smoothly overall. Before the holiday, it had asked local authorities to inspect and maintain equipment, provide additional mobile chargers and improve traffic management around charging locations.
China had installed 85,400 charging connectors at highway service areas by the end of June 2026, with coverage still absent in some extremely cold and high-altitude areas. The Ministry of Transport has said more than 10,000 additional connectors are planned for 2026, at least a quarter of them high-power units. Separately, the Ministry of Public Security reported 48.97 million NEVs on China’s roads at the end of June, equal to 13.19% of the vehicle fleet.