Charging points mark an industry trend indeed.

It's an argument evidenced by facts in the latest research report of Macquarie, an Australian investment bank. Data referenced from its research China EV Charging Downstream show that by total EV car fleet, China reached 13.1mn vehicles in 2022 or 46% of the global total; the public charging volume was 13,600 GWh, estimated to reach 338,000 GWh by 2030 or a 49% CAGR.

Against the backdrop of accelerating global shift from oil to electricity, Macquarie projects that in the following 8 years, China will see an explosion in charging service sectors; in 2023, the energy storage, EPC services and charging services will be worth Rmb 29bn, 25bn and 25bn respectively; in 2030, the three sectors will surge to Rmb 874bn, 477bn and 434bn respectively in market valuation.

Beyond doubt, it's a vast and thriving market.

As a matter of fact, China's charging points have been entwined with the burgeoning NEV industry ever since they were industrialized. Under support and guidance of the national support, China has become a global market leader in the industry.

Macquarie's verdict is echoed by CPCA in its latest report. In April this year, China's NEV manufacturers sold and distributed 600,000 passenger vehicles in estimation, flat with the prior month but remarkably up 114% from a year earlier; in the first four months of the year, China's passenger vehicle manufacturers sold and distributed 2.1 million NEVs, up 43% from a year earlier. Besides, China is predicted to sell 23.5mn passenger vehicles in narrow sense and 8.5mn NEVs in 2023, with annual NEV penetration of 36%.

With the bonus released in the industry chain, charging points unfold leapfrog development. As calculated by EVCIPA, China's public and private charging points will increase 55% and 100% to 2.8mn and 6.8mn respectively in 2023; CAAM predicts that there will be 20mn EVs nationwide in 2023, 54% higher than a year earlier.

As China's NEV and charging service market enters a new period of rapid growth, favorable policies have been recently unveiled one after another. On April 19, NDRC pledged to accelerate the construction of charging points and urban parking facilities, to expand accessibility of NEVs in rural areas, and to inspire manufacturers to develop models fit for the countryside.

On April 28, the Politburo meeting pointed out the need to "consolidate and expand development strengths of NEVs, and hasten installation of charging points and energy storage facilities and transformation of supporting power grids." It's arguably the overarching appeal for development of charging points and other renewable energy infrastructure.

On May 5, the State Council indicated at the executive session that targeting prominent bottlenecks regarding wider coverage of NEVs in rural areas, efforts should be made on advance construction of charging infrastructure and innovation of charging infrastructure build-out, operation and maintenance models, so as to make sure that "the infrastructure are built, managed and maintained"; the rural NEV market is promising, where faster charging infrastructure build-out facilitates unleashing potential of rural consumption for purchase and uptake of NEVs while injecting new vitality to rural vitalization through development of such new businesses as rural tourism.

In the Macquarie report, NaaS (NASDAQ: NaaS) is noted in particular. As China's biggest third-party charging service provider, NaaS claims to have rapidly expanded its charger network reaching 575k chargers as of Mar 2023.

Listed on the NASDAQ in June 2022, NaaS says in its latest annual financial report, its revenue jumped 177% to Rmb 92.8mn during the reporting period.

Another charge point operator TGOOD also comes under spotlight on the capital market. Public information collected and collated suggests that till March 31, 2023, TGOOD was listed among the top 10 major stocks by four funds, e.g., (LOF)A or Huashang Xin'an Hybrid Fund; besides, TGOOD's stock price shot up 16.04% in the first quarter, despite the slide of the volatile stock market.

Citic Securities estimates that in the following three years, public charging point market will reach Rmb 48.7bn. Propelled in policy and demand, the market will expand at faster pace to run into over hundreds of billion Yuan in the long term, the institute says.

Western Securities also depicts that ongoing stimulation of national and international policies and greater penetration of NEVs are bound to drive charging point demand to a new level. EVCIPA's statistics show that up to 2022, China's car-point ratio approximated 2.5:1; in 2025; the domestic charging point market is expected to maintain flourishing for a long time, with market value of over Rmb 70bn. "The crux of prevalence of NEVs lies in the increase of charging points, and in domestic charging point industry chain with cost and scale advantages, relevant industry leaders may stand a chance of sustainability."

Seizing the opportunity of policy support, charge point operators are navigating transformation on market worth hundreds of billion Yuan.