The "major test" of Spring Festival travel: How to ensure reliable charging and battery-swapping services

As the festive atmosphere grows stronger, the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake—2025—is entering its final countdown, and China's 2025 Spring Festival travel rush has already begun. In recent years, with the growing market penetration of new-energy vehicles, more and more car owners are choosing to drive home in their eco-friendly cars. However, challenges such as difficulties in finding fast-charging stations and long wait times at charging points still persist. According to information from Gasgoo Automotive, to ensure a worry-free journey for new-energy vehicle owners during the Spring Festival, major charging and battery-swapping operators—including State Grid, TELD, and Star Charge—as well as automakers like NIO, Li Auto, and GAC Group, have already rolled out comprehensive measures in advance, fully prepared to meet the demands of this critical travel period. Moreover, on January 23, the Electric Transportation & Energy Storage Branch of the China Electricity Council jointly organized an initiative meeting with leading operators, committing together to implement all the initiatives outlined in the "Holiday Charging and Battery-Swapping Service Assurance Action Initiative," thereby safeguarding drivers' journeys during the festive season.
In 2024, China’s stock of new-energy vehicles has surpassed 30 million units, once again setting a new historical record. Correspondingly, the country’s charging infrastructure has also experienced significant growth. On January 23, Zhang Xing, Deputy Director-General of the Comprehensive Department and spokesperson for the National Energy Administration, announced at a press conference that, as of the end of 2024, China had a total of 12.818 million charging facilities, representing a year-on-year increase of 49%. Additionally, the nation’s highway service areas have cumulatively installed 35,000 charging piles, achieving a coverage rate of 98%. Notably, peak travel periods during holidays—particularly in specific time slots—are driving a sharp surge in charging demand on highways, with the growth rate steadily accelerating. According to information obtained by Gasgoo Automotive, during the 2024 National Day holiday, electric vehicles charged a total of 3.1 million times on highways, consuming over 72.15 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. The average daily charging volume exceeded 10.3 million kilowatt-hours, which was 2.4 times higher than the typical weekday levels in 2024—and an impressive 34% increase compared to the daily average during the 2024 May Day holiday, and an even more substantial 80% rise compared to the 2023 National Day holiday period.
The transportation sector anticipates that this year's Spring Festival travel period will see a total of 9 billion inter-regional passenger trips across society, with self-driving trips expected to reach 7.2 billion—marking a new all-time high. Meanwhile, the China Electricity Council also noted that during this year's Spring Festival, there will be another surge in demand for charging and battery-swapping services along highways, in commercial centers, core urban areas, and tourist attractions. According to forecasts from the State Grid Corporation of China, during the 2025 Spring Festival, the average daily electricity consumption on its highway charging stations is projected to exceed 7.5 million kilowatt-hours, with peak daily usage potentially surpassing 9 million kilowatt-hours. Earlier, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Gao Bo, head of the Transportation Services Department of the Ministry of Transport, emphasized the need to establish a robust dispatch and support mechanism for busy charging service areas on highways during major holidays, ensuring that the charging needs of new-energy vehicles are met as effectively as possible.

Notably, the aforementioned "Initiative Letter" outlines 16 specific measures across eight key areas: strengthening the operation and maintenance management of charging and battery-swapping facilities to enhance fault response speed; optimizing service processes to boost efficiency and elevate the user experience; bolstering emergency preparedness by developing contingency plans and stockpiling necessary resources and equipment; promoting information sharing and transparency to provide drivers with real-time charging updates; and fostering greater industry collaboration to collectively tackle challenges in the charging and battery-swapping services sector. The Spring Festival travel rush not only serves as a major test for charging and battery-swapping infrastructure but also poses a significant challenge to the overall service quality of the industry. According to Gasgoo Automotive, to ensure that new-energy vehicle owners can smoothly meet their charging and battery-swapping needs during the holiday period, major charging service providers and automakers have already begun taking proactive steps.

State Grid's Marketing, Digitalization, and Industry Departments reportedly launched the National Electric Company's Spring Festival charging service guarantee program on December 27th. State Grid's Vehicle Network Technology Company also issued the "State Grid Smart Vehicle Network Technology Co., Ltd. 2025 New Year's Day and Spring Festival Charging Service Guarantee Plan." Star Charging stated that to ensure the safety of charging stations during the 2025 Spring Festival, it will conduct station safety inspections before the holiday and implement station charging safety services, platform stability assurance, and emergency operation and maintenance plans during the holiday. Aodong, a leading battery swap operator, has also made preparations in terms of operational management, equipment and facility support, safety monitoring and emergency response, and user service. NIO Energy has implemented each of the 16 specific measures in the "Proposal." For example, on January 7th, it conducted a Spring Festival travel survey of thousands of new energy vehicle owners to identify key stations during peak travel times. On January 20th, it completed a full battery swap maintenance program to eliminate potential hazards and ensure safe and stable station operations.

NIO Energy has accumulated extensive frontline operational experience through years of providing holiday charging and swap service guarantees. For example, at busy service areas on one side, by opening interchanges on both sides to ensure orderly and safe travel, charging and swapping stations on both sides of the service area can alleviate the pressure of new energy vehicle queues on one side. Ideal Auto, based on user voting results from the previous "Spring Festival Service Station Recruitment Campaign," selected the top 50 stations and 300 high-traffic stations, totaling over 350 stations, as Spring Festival service stations. On-site personnel are deployed along 80 popular routes, including the Daguan Expressway, Baomao Expressway, Lianhuo Expressway, Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway, and Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, to ensure orderly charging at stations during the Spring Festival travel rush and provide users with convenient and reliable charging services. Furthermore, to address potential emergencies that drivers may encounter during the Spring Festival, charging operators and automakers have prepared contingency plans to ensure smooth travel during the Spring Festival.

Reprinted from Sina Auto

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