China's National Day holiday is set to bring record electric-vehicle (EV) charging demand, with the State Grid's smart vehicle-grid platform predicting that October 1 will see the peak, according to a report from Kuaikeji, a Chinese tech news outlet, citing CCTV Finance.
The charging peak is expected to last 13 hours, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on October 1. Seven provinces — Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Fujian — are projected to see highway charging volumes hit new all-time highs.
The busiest charging corridors will be along the Changshen, Shenhai, and Hukun expressways, which link the Yangtze River Delta, the west coast of the Taiwan Strait, the Pearl River Delta, and the southwest. These routes pass through regions with high EV ownership, putting immense pressure on service-area charging stations.
Return-trip congestion and record traffic
For the return journey, October 5 and 6 will be the core days, with charging demand remaining high. On October 5, the peak charging window is 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on October 6, it is 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Drivers are advised to charge off-peak to reduce waiting times.
This year's holiday charging pressure is more pronounced than in previous years. According to the Ministry of Transport, as of September 2026, China's NEV fleet — including battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and range-extenders — reached 48.97 million units, with about 9.8 million EVs traveling on highways on an average day.
During the National Day holiday, daily highway EV traffic is expected to average around 16.4 million vehicles, a 32.7% year-on-year increase, with the peak on the first day potentially reaching 17.8 million.
To cope with the surge, the Ministry of Transport has required local authorities to deploy additional high-power charging facilities, mobile charging vehicles, and guidance staff. Some EV owners have shared that during last year's holiday, popular service areas saw charging queues with numbers as high as 49, and some ultra-fast charging stations are now implementing charging limits.
Long-distance travelers are advised to avoid the morning of October 1 and the afternoons of October 5 and 6, and to charge at less crowded service areas or at urban charging stations off the highway to significantly cut waiting times.
