23.057 million charging connectors, a year-on-year increase of 43.2%. The national vehicle-to-charger ratio is approaching 2:1.
This is the report card as of the end of June 2026. The numbers look impressive, yet the industry has little reason to smile.
The vast majority of charging operators are trapped in razor-thin margins or even losses. According to a report by CCTV's *Economic Half Hour*, the net profit per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for leading enterprises is a mere 4 cents. From small operators to industry leaders, and from internet platforms to state-owned enterprises, almost no one is profiting in this chaotic price war.
"Scale has increased, but no money has been made."
Behind the achievement of total volume targets lies a structural shortage of public resources, a severe imbalance in regional layout, and outdated, rigid business models. As the charging network transitions from a phase of "having or not having" to one of "having good or bad ones," the industry needs to answer a fundamental question: After 23 million, where does the path lead?
A 2:1 Vehicle-to-Charger Ratio, a 10:1 Public Anxiety
Breaking down the figure of 23.057 million, contradictions immediately emerge.
From January to June 2026, the increment in charging infrastructure was 2.965 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9.7%. Among them, the increment in public charging facilities was only 292,000 units, a sharp year-on-year drop of 43.5%; conversely, the increment in private charging facilities reached as high as 2.673 million units. The lion's share of the increment was "installed" in private parking spaces.
Two consequences follow.
First, public charging resources remain tight. The national vehicle-to-charger ratio of 2:1 includes private chargers. Deducting them, the actual vehicle-to-charger ratio in the public domain is close to 10:1. The total volume seems "sufficient," but during holidays, queues for charging at highway service areas persist. During this year's May Day holiday, the number of highway charging sessions nationwide reached 3.9784 million, with the average daily charging volume increasing by 14.09% compared to the Spring Festival, hitting a new all-time high.
Second, regional distribution is severely uneven. Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Fujian, Henan, Anhui, Sichuan, and Hubei—the top 10 regions account for 66.2% of public charging facilities. Urban areas account for 85%, while rural areas account for only 15%.
Lower-tier markets are catching up. As of the end of June, the coverage rate of charging facilities in county-level areas has increased to 98.61%. However, coverage rate does not equal usability.
During the Qingming Festival this year, Xuancheng in Anhui Province, which went viral on short-video platforms, experienced a tourism peak. Ms. Liu drove her battery electric vehicle (BEV) to the city center, and her nightmare began: the first charging station was fully occupied by internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the second was closed, and the third had more malfunctioning chargers than working ones. It took her half an hour of hassle to finally get a charge. In Xuancheng, half an hour is enough to drive across the entire urban area.
Even more ironic is the official data: As of April 2026, Xuanzhou District alone had over 40 registered operators, more than 400 charging stations, and over 4,000 charging connectors. The quantity is considerable, yet very few are actually usable.
This is a microcosm of "built but unused, used but not fully utilized." Operators flock to build stations in popular commercial districts, competing fiercely with each other, leading to a continuous decline in the utilization rate per charger; old residential communities and county-level rural areas remain blind spots. The tidal contradiction in the time dimension is equally prominent: Commercial district stations sit idle late at night, while highway service areas are deserted on weekdays and congested during holidays.
The real challenge for the charger industry is not "building more chargers," but "building the right chargers and using them well."
If the contradiction between scale and structure is the "surface" of the industry, the profitability dilemma is the "core."
In early 2024, the charging service fee was 0.2 to 0.3 RMB per kWh; by 2025, it had dropped to around 0.17 RMB. After deducting costs such as equipment and site rental, the profit is a mere 4 cents per kWh. During off-peak electricity price periods, operators even operate at a loss.
The era of "instant profitability upon building a station" is gone forever. Capital flocked in, racing to claim territory. Today, overcapacity has spawned vicious competition; service fees continue to plummet, while site rents and equipment depreciation have not declined synchronously. Industry insiders revealed to Gasgoo that it may take seven to eight years, or even a decade, for a newly built station to break even.
Technological iteration has only added fuel to the fire. The average power per connector increased from about 45 kW in 2025 to 49.35 kW in June 2026. Low-power chargers invested and built in the early years have been reduced to inefficient assets, eliminated before they could even break even.
Ultra-Fast Charging Goes Mainstream, the Megawatt Era Arrives
The dilemma is forcing a technological revolution.
In January 2026, Huawei released the Ten Major Trends in the Charging Network Industry. Wang Zhiwu, President of Huawei's Intelligent Charging Network Domain, pointed out that the charging network is still in the primary stage of development.
Comprehensive ultra-fast charging is the first wave. The widespread application of third-generation power semiconductor materials and the rising installation of high-C-rate power batteries are driving ultra-fast charging models from the high-end segment to mass adoption. Huawei's 600 kW fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging terminal can add 300 km of range in a 5-minute charge. Compared to traditional air cooling, liquid cooling technology offers higher heat dissipation efficiency, thinner cables, and adaptability to high-temperature, high-humidity, and high-salt-fog environments.
Megawatt charging for logistics follows closely. The "replacing oil with electricity" transition for heavy-duty trucks is moving from closed scenarios to all scenarios. The *Notice on Promoting the Scientific Planning, Construction, and Operation of High-Power Charging Facilities* proposes piloting megawatt-level charging for heavy-duty trucks and ships.
The DC transformation of energy storage and charging, along with park microgrids, is advancing simultaneously. Grid-forming photovoltaics and energy storage are integrated with fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging to form a one-stop "PV-energy storage-charging-vehicle-cloud" solution.
Technology has moved from concept to implementation. The Fanzhuang Intelligent Ultra-Fast Charging Station in Datong, Shanxi Province, is equipped with four 480 kW fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast chargers and two V2G chargers, capable of adding 1 km of range in as fast as 1 second. The first PV-energy storage-charging ultra-fast demonstration station in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, has reduced the station's transformer capacity by about 40%, increased the self-consumption ratio of PV by about 50%, lowered charging costs by about 20%, and improved charger utilization by about 30%.
Shenzhen has put into operation the largest single-station megawatt-level vehicle-to-grid (V2G) flash charging demonstration station in the country, featuring the nation's first fully liquid-cooled megawatt-level single-connector V2G charger for passenger vehicles. Vehicles can add 400 km of range in as fast as 5 minutes and can participate in grid peak shaving and frequency regulation as distributed energy storage units.
From the "City of Ultra-Fast Charging" to the "City of Megawatt Ultra-Fast Charging," charging infrastructure is undergoing an unprecedented technological leap.
Saying Goodbye to "Selling Electricity," Shifting to "Selling Dispatch"
Technology provides the possibilities, but the shift in business models is the true revolution.
The core pathway is V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid). Electric vehicles (EVs) are no longer just "electricity-consuming" terminals, but "energy-storing" nodes—charging during off-peak hours and discharging back to the grid during peak hours. Operators no longer earn the price difference on electricity, but dispatch service fees for helping the grid shave peaks and fill valleys.
By the end of 2025, the domestic ownership of NEVs (New Energy Vehicles) reached 43.97 million, and the massive number of onboard power batteries has built a national "mobile energy storage pool."
Policy support is accelerating. The *15th Five-Year Plan for Building a New Energy System* proposes that by 2030, charging infrastructure will reach 40 million units, and the aggregated adjustable charging scale for V2G will reach 50 million kW. The *15th Five-Year Plan for Expanding Consumption* requires the formation of charging service capabilities to support over 100 million electric vehicles.
If the 14th Five-Year Plan period was about scale construction "from 0 to 1," the 15th Five-Year Plan period is about the leap "from having it to having it optimized."
Commercialization pathways have been implemented. On July 1, 2026, a pilot for V2G reverse electricity selling via home chargers in private parking spaces was launched in Wuhan, transforming car owners from "electricity consumers" to "prosumers." Hefei and Shenzhen simultaneously launched V2G discharge to ensure power supply. Dongfeng Motor and State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power released the country's first mass-produced AC V2G solution for residential communities. China Southern Power Grid, in collaboration with Dongfeng eπ, globally launched the first mass-produced AC V2G vehicle. It requires no hardware modifications and achieves bidirectional charging and discharging solely through OTA upgrades, with supporting chargers priced at merely the thousand-yuan level.
Diversified value-added services are being explored simultaneously. A "PV-energy storage-charging-battery swapping" station of Sinopec Anhui has formed a virtual power plant to participate in grid peak shaving and valley filling. In the first half of the year, it carried out 12 valley-filling responses in total, and "response revenue has become an important channel for increasing the station's income."
According to calculations by the China EV100 Research Institute, after the integration of vehicles and energy matures, it is expected to create comprehensive economic benefits at the trillion-yuan level by 2030. However, the transition is not a smooth journey; V2G is still constrained by practical limitations such as grid dispatch mechanisms, electricity market rules, and battery cycle life.
Landscape Reshuffled: Who Will Emerge Victorious?
The logic of industry development is switching, and the competitive landscape is accelerating its restructuring.
The trend of concentration at the top is obvious. The top 10 operators in terms of public charging connector ownership hold a combined total of 2.45 million units. However, in terms of charging volume share, the landscape has been reshaped. As of March 2026, Didi Charging ranked first nationwide with a 34.22% share, TELD ranked second with 10.06%, and Yunkuaichong ranked third with 9.54%. The charging volume of a single mobility platform is greater than the combined total of the latter three.
Each model has its pros and cons. TELD and Star Charge represent the heavy-asset model, independently investing in and building stations, leading in fixed assets, but facing heavy depreciation pressure and long payback periods. Didi Charging represents the platform aggregation model, rising rapidly by leveraging platform capabilities and high-frequency ride-hailing users. BYD, Huawei, and CATL are accelerating their layouts, forming a "four-way battle" pattern, signaling the industry's shift from a "price war" to a "technology and value war."
Lower-tier markets and the heavy-duty truck track have become new battlegrounds. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Transport have launched the 2026 pilot project to address the shortcomings of county-level charging and battery-swapping facilities, planning to support 59 joint pilot counties, and have cumulatively supported 200 pilot counties.
The industry is moving from "racing to claim territory" to "intensive farming." Early players who relied on capital to occupy resources are being eliminated if they fail to improve operational efficiency. Meanwhile, those who excel in technological capabilities and user experience are accelerating their market share grab.
As an industry insider put it: Scale and quantity are no longer the core of competition. Future competition will be a comprehensive test of precise insight into user needs, technological integration for grid interaction, and operational service capabilities across diverse scenarios.
23 million charging facilities are a milestone, far from the finish line. From "having or not having" to "having good or bad ones," from "selling electricity" to "selling dispatch," and from "ultra-fast charging" to "megawatt ultra-fast charging," the charging infrastructure industry is standing at a brand-new starting point. Only those enterprises that take the lead in transforming their business models, accurately deploying public resources, and deeply integrating into the Energy Internet are expected to run to the very end of this marathon.