China's highway EV charging volume surged 51.42% year-on-year during the National Day holiday (Oct 1-7), yet social media complaints about long queues at charging stations have noticeably declined, according to data from the National Energy Administration and reporting by Chinese outlet D1EV.
The 62,700 highway charging guns monitored by the national platform completed 6.71 million charging sessions, delivering 163 million kWh. On Oct 1 alone, charging hit 28.05 million kWh, up 60.4% year-on-year and 3.24 times the daily average. The Ministry of Transport estimated that about 17.8 million EVs were on highways that day, 80% more than usual, while the holiday average daily flow of 16.4 million EVs accounted for nearly a third of all highway traffic.
Why the pain eased
D1EV attributes the quieter complaints to five factors. First, ultra-fast charging technology has spread: 800V architectures and 6C charging now cut typical charging times from 40 minutes to 15-20 minutes, boosting per-stall throughput. Second, the network density has improved, with the monitored highway charging guns reaching 62,700, covering most service areas on popular routes.
Third, automaker-backed networks are diverting traffic. Nio's energy arm delivered over 24.83 million kWh of highway charging and swapping during the holiday, up 30.8% year-on-year and accounting for 13.7% of the national highway total. BYD's flash-charging network served over 180,000 vehicles in a single day. Fourth, drivers have adapted: many now stagger departures, plan charging stops, and start looking for a charger before the battery drops to 30%. Fifth, mobile charging trucks—essentially giant power banks—were deployed at service areas as a fallback, reducing the risk of stranded vehicles.
A driver who took a BEV (battery-electric vehicle) from Beijing to Xinjiang along the G7 highway described seeing families drying blankets at service areas and spending nights in their cars—unthinkable five years ago when the route was dominated by gas-guzzling SUVs.
The tidal wave problem persists
Despite the improved experience, the structural challenge remains. Charging demand grew 51.42% during the holiday, but infrastructure only expanded about 22%, meaning demand is growing more than twice as fast as supply. The core issue is a tidal effect: highway chargers sit idle on ordinary days but are overwhelmed during peak travel periods. Operators cannot build for peak demand without sacrificing profitability, so temporary measures like 'charge to 80% and leave' rules and queuing systems are stopgaps, not solutions.
With NEV penetration hitting 67.0% in September and BEV share rising, the pressure will only intensify. D1EV argues the real answer lies not just in adding more chargers but in denser ultra-fast networks, broader adoption of battery swap, smarter travel scheduling via vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration to balance grid loads.
