BEIJING — More and more Chinese motorists are choosing to drive home for Spring Festival family reunions using new energy vehicles, aided by better charging and insurance services, according to experts.

Hua Lei, an official with the Ministry of Transport, said that NEVs are joining the Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun, the world's largest annual human migration.

Noting that NEVs accounted for 15.9 percent of road trips during the National Day holiday in October last year, experts expected the proportion to rise further during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which officially kicked off on Jan 14.

To meet the rising demand for NEV charging services, the country has accelerated the construction of charging infrastructure. By the end of 2024, 98 percent of highway service areas had charging facilities, with 35,000 charging stations in place.

"Aside from a few remote, high-altitude areas, nearly all (highway) service areas now offer charging options," said Hua.

Lots of supercharging piles have been put in place. For instance, in Chongqing, 83 highway service areas had completed the construction of supercharging piles before the arrival of the Spring Festival travel rush.

The new supercharging piles have a significant charging capacity, with a maximum output of 480 kilowatts per charging station. They can charge NEVs faster than conventional fast-charging piles, enabling some NEVs to run for 400 kilometers after charging for just 10 minutes.

In 2024, China added more than 4.22 million electric vehicle charging piles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. By the end of last year, the total number of electric vehicle charging piles in the country reached 12.82 million, marking a 49.1 percent year-on-year increase. Of these, public charging piles accounted for approximately 3.58 million, while private charging piles neared 9.24 million.

The expansion of charging facilities comes amid surging demand for NEVs in China, with both production and sales surpassing 12 million units in 2024, industry data showed. China has maintained its position as the world's leading NEV market for 10 consecutive years.

The number of NEVs in use in China has continued to increase at a faster pace, reaching 31.4 million by the end of 2024, the Ministry of Public Security said earlier last month. It added that the figure marks a 260-fold surge over the past decade, which is attributable to the country's technological progress in the NEV sector, the improvement of charging infrastructure and the growing eco-friendly awareness of Chinese motorists.

The ministry added that in 2024, NEVs accounted for 8.9 percent of the country's total vehicle ownership, while the number of newly registered NEVs rose by 51.49 percent compared to 2023, reaching 11.25 million.

To further spur the NEV sector, China unveiled last month its first-ever guidelines for the insurance of NEVs, introducing measures aimed at addressing key challenges currently facing the sector, such as high insurance premiums and the risk of being denied coverage.

The guidelines, jointly issued by the National Financial Regulatory Administration and three other government departments, aim to reduce maintenance costs for NEVs.

Xinhua