The pricing of charging for electric vehicles in China—Dilemma and solution

Abstract

The number of electric vehicles in China is expected to grow rapidly, triggering the nationwide large-scale construction of charging stations. At the same time, a reasonable charging price has not been established. This article records the views of station operators and EV users and calculates a charging pricing range. The price should not only ensure the profit of operators, but also help reduce EV users’ expenditure compared to using internal-combustion-engine vehicles. Based on current energy prices and battery costs, charging stations are unable to make profit, and the pricing shortfall is up to 0.78 RMB yuan(kWh) −1. Only with a 25% increase in energy price or 25% reduction in battery cost can charging stations become profitable. Several suggestions are proposed to improve station profits. First, ensuring a high station load is helpful to increase profits, and it is estimated the reasonable number of chargers in Beijing is approximately 6000, distributed among 672 stations. Second, the use of storage batteries for on/off-peak electricity self-management can also increase the annual profit by 600,000 RMB yuan. In addition, other methods like a jointed station alliance, multiple energy supplement approaches, vehicle-to-grid technology and state subsidy can also accelerate the development of the charging service industry.