(Yicai) Feb. 28 -- The Chinese central government will support the public electric vehicle charging and swapping pilot projects of 75 counties this year to accelerate the development of such facilities in rural areas.

The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Ministry of Transport will allocate this year’s quotas to 75 county-level governments based on the current and potential development of their EV battery charging and swapping facilities, location, and financial resources, the ministries announced yesterday.

Last year, the State Council issued a document promoting the implementation of pilot projects to improve the deficiencies in county-level EV charging and swapping facilities between 2024 and 2026.

The central government would arrange funds to support the pilots, with the highest annual quotas per county reaching CNY45 million (USD6.2 million), while local authorities would introduce supportive policies in terms of land, electricity prices, and service fees, according to the document.

The MOOF, MIIT, and MOT announced last April that 2024’s annual quota would be allocated to pilot projects in 67 counties, including Jiaohe in Jilin province and Huangyuan in Qinghai province.

The proportion of public charging piles in economically-developed regions, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces, has reached 68 percent, while that in county-level areas is much lower. For example, the EV charging infrastructure coverage rate in rural areas is under 5 percent, a key factor restricting the popularization of NEVs.

Increasing the coverage of EV charging piles in county-level areas can boost NEV sales by helping alleviate buyers’ charging-related worries, industry insiders said. In turn, higher NEV sales can bring continued improvements in the market structure, they added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione