During the peak travel period of the National Day holiday, most service areas along major highways across China experienced congestion due to long queues of new energy vehicles (NEVs) waiting to charge.
In response to this strain on charging resources, the Zaoyang North Service Area in Hubei Province took the lead by implementing a new rule requiring vehicles to leave once they reach an 80% charge. During peak hours, nearly 200 vehicles were queued for charging, including many EREV owners. This incident sparked widespread online debate about how charging resources should be allocated during peak highway travel periods.
Mr. Liu, an EREV owner, admitted that he fully understands the service area's intention behind introducing new regulations to improve charging station turnover efficiency. However, as an ordinary car owner, he still has concerns about traveling.
Highway conditions are inherently variable. If one encounters prolonged traffic jams or low temperatures that increase power consumption further down the road, having only an 80% charge can easily lead to range anxiety midway through the trip. Moreover, the pure electric driving experience of EREVs is far superior to using fuel, so many owners prefer to use electricity whenever possible and avoid starting the fuel-powered range extender unless absolutely necessary.
Ms. Wang, a pure electric vehicle (EV) owner, holds a completely different view. She drives her EV for long-distance trips and relies entirely on public charging stations for energy replenishment, with no backup option like fuel. She believes that extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), which have the redundancy of refueling, should proactively yield to pure EV owners who have no alternative during peak holiday periods when charging resources are extremely scarce.
According to industry insiders, lithium-ion battery charging for NEVs consists of two distinct phases. The 0-80% range is the high-efficiency fast-charging phase, characterized by rapid charging speeds, stable power output, and generally short duration.
Once the battery level exceeds 80%, it automatically switches to trickle charging mode. The total time required to charge the remaining 20% is roughly equivalent to the time taken for the first 80%. If all vehicles were allowed to charge to full capacity, it would significantly occupy the already limited charging resources and prolong the waiting time for all queued drivers.
Do you support such new regulations, or do you have your own more reasonable ideas for resource allocation?