The rapid development of the Battery swap network is one of the factors behind this, according to the People's Daily.

(Image credit: Nio)

China has built the world's largest charging facility network, with 2.223 million units as of September, up 56.8 percent from the same period last year, the official People's Daily reported today.

Citing data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the report said China added 237,000 public charging piles in the first nine months, bringing the number to 1.044 million by the end of September, up 72.3 percent from a year earlier.

(Image credit: People's Daily)

The rapid growth of the Battery swap network is one of the factors behind China's charging infrastructure reaching the largest scale in the world, according to the report.

The report cites Nio co-founder Qin Lihong as saying that Nio has built a total of 546 battery swap stations in China as of October 20.

The latest data from CnEVPost shows that as of October 28, the number of Nio battery swap stations in China reached 571.

"This is the 198th time I use battery swap service, it's convenient and fast," said an Nio owner in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, as quoted in the report by People's Daily.

Driven by the policy, the number of battery swap stations in China has grown rapidly, rising from 555 at the end of 2020 to 890 at the end of September this year, the report said.

Starting in the second half of this year, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Energy Administration jointly launched a nationwide pilot of battery swap mode application for new energy vehicles, the report added.

The MIIT issued a notice on Thursday announcing the launch of the pilot project on the application of battery swap model for new energy vehicles, according to a report yesterday by CnEVPost.

The first 11 cities to be included in the pilot are: Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Sanya, Chongqing, Changchun, Hefei, Jinan, Yibin, Tangshan and Baotou, the last three of which will focus on the heavy truck sector.

The goal of the pilot is to facilitate the sale of more than 100,000 additional battery swap-enabled vehicles and the establishment of more than 1,000 battery swap stations.

China launches pilot program in 11 cities to promote battery swap model