Thanks to the rapid development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China, third-party charging service providers are also on track of fast growth. Kuaidian today announced that its number of registered users had reached 9 million by Mar 31, 2023, of which transaction users numbered 5 million are still in accelerated growth.
According to China Association of Automobile Manufactures (CAAM), the sales of NEVs in China were 6.887 million units in 2022, accounting for 61.2% of the global sales, and NEV ownership of China was 13.1 million units. From January to March in 2023, the cumulative sales of NEVs reached 1.586 million units, with a YOY growth of 26.2% and a penetration rate of 26.1%. CAAM predicts that China's NEVs sales in 2023 will reach 9 million units with a YOY growth of 35%.
According to NewLink Research Institute, by 2030, China's NEV ownership will reach about 145 million units, and affiliated public charging infrastructure is seen strong demand. According to data released by China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), as of March 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure nationwide was 5.842 million units, an increase of 87.9% YOY, of which 1.958 million units were held by public chargers.
Although the chargers construction and NEV sales are growing in tandem, the challenges remain not so optimistic. Affected by location, electricity supply, service quality and charging facilities, the public charging services in China will be inevitably decentralized. Data showed that from 2018 to 2022, the market share of China’s top 5 public charging station operators has dropped from 89% to about 70%, and the market is decentralized and disordered.
Highly distributed charging service market makes it difficult for vehicle owners to get information of charging stations operated by various brands via one-stop access, leading to low mapping efficiency. Meanwhile, due to the lack of the O&M standard, data of chargers are unable to be collected and pushed in real-time manner. Moreover, abandoned piles, bad piles and situation where the charging space is occupied by fuel vehicle can be found from time to time, which results in low utilization rate of chargers. A single network of charging services will allow vehicle owners to find nearby charging facilities conveniently and in real time, and know the charging price as well as the availability of chargers.
In this context, third-party charging service providers represented by Kuaidian are getting more and more prominent. Kuaidian is widely connected to TELD, Star Charge and other charge station operators. NEV owners can enjoy “one-click charging pile search”, “one-click charging”, "Kuaidian membership" and other innovative services offered by the Kuaidian App, without needing to download many charging Apps. They can also benefit from high pile mapping efficiency through online navigation, map for charging piles and other functions.
To improve charging service experience, Kuaidian partners with China's First Listed Public EV Charging Service Company NaaS Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: NAAS) to increase shared massage chairs, canteens, unmanned vending machines and other non-charging service facilities in the charging stations, thus satisfying vehicle owners' relaxation, dining, shopping and other service demands during the waiting period. Kuaidian also conducts field inspections on charging stations periodically to update chargers' power and availability, live view of the charging stations and other information, ensuring vehicle owners can find good charging stations and facilities smoothly.