China's Ministry of Transport has drafted the plan and is seeking comments from different regions.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

China's new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is getting new policy support.

The Ministry of Transport has recently drafted an action plan with government departments, including the National Energy Administration, to speed up the construction of charging infrastructure along public roads, according to a report by state-owned CCTV today.

Comments on the action plan are currently being sought from various regions, according to the report.

China currently has 3,102 highway service areas with charging and battery swap infrastructure, including about 13,374 charging piles, according to the report.

These facilities are concentrated in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the eastern region, including the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, while coverage in the western and northeastern regions is lower, the report said.

The report did not provide more information, though shares of several charging equipment makers rose by the daily gain limits after the report was published.

As of March 2022, China had 1.323 million public charging piles, including 502,000 DC piles and 729,000 AC piles, according to data released earlier this month by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA).

Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Beijing, Zhejiang, Hubei, Shandong, Anhui, Henan and Sichuan are the 10 regions with the most of these facilities, accounting for 72 percent of the total number.

Nio (NYSE: NIO, HKG: 9866) is the leading proponent of the battery swap model in China, with the largest number of battery swap stations.

As of the end of March, Nio owned 915 battery swap stations, with a 63 percent market share in the sector, according to the EVCIPA. The figure appears to include facilities that have been built but are not yet in operation.

Nio, Aulton New Energy and Hangzhou Botan Technology are the main battery swap stations operators in China, with a total of 1,452 battery swap stations, according to the data.

As of April 26, Nio had 910 battery swap stations in China, 241 of which are located along highways, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

Nio also has 762 supercharging stations, including 4,196 charging piles. It has 689 destination charging stations, providing 3,914 charging piles.

NIO owns 63% of all battery swap stations in China