China continues to expand its electric vehicle infrastructure at a rapid pace, alongside the strong growth in new energy vehicle sales. According to official data, the total number of EV charging points in the country reached 23.68 million by the end of July 2026, representing a year on year increase of 41.9%. The figure highlights the scale of investment China is making to support its accelerating transition toward electric mobility.
A Rapidly Expanding Charging Network
The network includes more than 5.09 million public charging points, up 21.3% compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, the number of private charging points increased to around 18.58 million, recording strong year on year growth of 48.8%.
This difference shows that most of the expansion is coming from private charging, while the public network also continues to grow across cities, major roads and areas with high traffic density.
The growth in infrastructure is closely linked to developments in the automotive market. In July 2026, new energy vehicles accounted for more than 60% of total new car sales in China for the first time, highlighting how quickly the world’s largest automotive market is changing.
During the same month, new energy vehicle production exceeded 1.57 million units, while sales surpassed 1.56 million vehicles, representing year on year growth of 26.8% and 23.7%, respectively.
Strong Sales Drive Further Investment
As the number of electric vehicles on the road continues to rise, expanding the charging network has become essential to maintaining this growth. Consumers are no longer looking only at vehicle prices or driving range, but also at how easy it is to access charging and whether it is readily available for everyday use.
For this reason, China is expanding coverage and increasing the capacity of its charging network in parallel with the growth in vehicle sales. This connection between the market and infrastructure is important from an economic perspective, as an insufficient charging network could become a barrier to demand even if vehicle prices and technologies continue to improve.
The Next Target Is 28 Million Charging Points
These efforts are part of a broader plan announced by China in October 2025 to develop EV charging infrastructure over a three year period. The plan aims to increase the number of charging points nationwide to 28 million by the end of 2027, while raising total public charging capacity to more than 300 million kilowatts.
This means China is targeting the addition of more than 4 million charging points compared with July 2026 levels. At the same time, the country is also seeking to increase the share of new energy vehicles to 30% of its total vehicle fleet by 2030.
For the automotive industry, these figures reflect a transformation that goes far beyond rising electric vehicle sales. China is simultaneously building an integrated ecosystem that includes manufacturing, batteries, charging infrastructure and related services. This gives the market greater capacity to absorb millions of new vehicles every year and makes infrastructure a fundamental part of sustaining the sector’s growth in the years ahead.
