The first day of this year's National Day holiday may have been the day when gasoline car owners smiled the widest. That's because it wasn't just the highways that were congested—service areas were jammed too, with electric vehicle charging and battery swapping also stuck in long lines.
"We passed through four service areas and couldn't charge—every service area had queues at the charging piles," one car owner complained about how difficult charging was. Another owner who drew queue number 169 said it felt like the sky was falling. Some owners reported that during the holiday, charging stations required all vehicles to leave once they reached 80% charge, with "machines automatically limiting the current so you can only charge to 80%."
"At highway service area charging piles, 8 out of 10 are being used by hybrids," and "range-extended vehicles have short range—in the queues I saw, more than half were range-extended vehicles." Some pure electric car owners waiting in line believe that range-extended and hybrid vehicles have smaller batteries, and their drivers are reluctant to use gasoline after switching to electric mode, so they also come to charge, causing long queues. Meanwhile, some range-extended vehicle owners argue that their batteries are relatively small so charging time is shorter, and during holidays when highway charging queues are long, they can also choose to refuel and charge at home. Multiple owners also expressed dissatisfaction with certain brands' fast-charging stations failing to deliver promised charging speeds, calling them "utterly useless." The brand's fast-charging customer service stated that the main issue is high usage volume and insufficient energy storage cabinet replenishment, which currently cannot be manually intervened with.
Who is to blame for the charging pile battle?
According to statistical analysis of 62,700 highway charging facilities (guns) included in the national charging infrastructure monitoring service platform, on the first day of the National Day holiday, nationwide highway charging volume reached 28.0469 million kilowatt-hours, up 60.40% compared to the first day of last year's National Day holiday, setting a new single-day record for historical holidays. Multiple netizens posted videos showing new energy vehicles once again queuing for long periods to charge at highway service areas. Multiple car owners on self-driving trips said that from September 30 to the early hours of October 1, most charging piles at highway service areas they passed required queuing, with the longest wait exceeding 5 hours.
Why is charging so difficult? Beyond the absolute increase in holiday traffic and charging peak demand exceeding infrastructure capacity in some areas, multiple car owners say the long charging queues are related to the large number of range-extended and hybrid vehicles. "Actually, the ones charging the most aggressively are range-extended and hybrid vehicles. At National Day highway service area charging piles, 8 out of 10 are hybrids in use." "Range-extended vehicles have short range—in the queues I saw several times, more than half were range-extended vehicles." "When you buy it, it's range-extended with both fuel and electric options; when you use it, it becomes a pure electric car." Some pure electric car owners waiting in line believe that range-extended and hybrid vehicles have smaller batteries and can't go far, and their drivers are reluctant to use gasoline after switching to electric, so they also come to charge, causing long queues.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can be externally charged and also run on fuel, while extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) are mainly driven by electric motors, with the engine only used to generate electricity to supplement the battery. Plug-in hybrid models typically have relatively small batteries. Extended-range power systems generate electricity by burning fuel, which then drives the vehicle. Fuel consumption is relatively high under highway conditions, and converting gasoline to electricity adds an extra step, which significantly affects conversion efficiency.
Regarding the difficulty of charging during long holidays, senior industry insider Liu Hao said that the difficulty of highway charging during National Day should not be attributed to hybrids or range-extended vehicles—that's just a secondary compounding factor. The core reason for congestion is the sudden explosion of highway charging demand during holidays, with traffic volume rising dozens of times, while the number of charging piles is fixed—hardware upper limits simply cannot handle pulse-style traffic flows. Additionally, charging takes longer than refueling, so after vehicles arrive densely, queues rapidly accumulate.
In fact, many car owners are calculating the economic equation. Although there are reports of "highway charging rising to 2.8 yuan," some automotive industry insiders calculated it this way: "For an ordinary electric car driving on the highway with air conditioning at full load, if electricity consumption is calculated at 17 kWh per 100 kilometers, and charging at peak rate of 2.8 yuan throughout, the electricity cost per 100 kilometers is 47.6 yuan. For a gasoline car, 92-octane gasoline just had its third consecutive price increase. At an average price of 8.59 yuan and highway fuel consumption of about 7 liters for a family car, the fuel cost per 100 kilometers is just over 60 yuan. By this calculation, electric cars still save over ten yuan." This is probably the main reason many car owners prioritize charging.
As for why new energy vehicle owners don't exit the highway to find more affordable charging piles without queues, there are practical reasons. Some owners say that exiting and re-entering the highway often involves queuing, wasting considerable time.
Fast charging that can't charge fast?
In fact, waiting in long queues to charge is indeed frustrating, but even after getting to the front, new problems arise. "After finally getting my turn to charge, I found the car company had taught me another lesson. They promised 5-minute charging and 9-minute full charge, but the fast-charging energy storage cabinet had run out of power, so charging speed was greatly reduced—fast charging was turned into slow charging." Multiple owners expressed dissatisfaction with the actual capability of certain brands' fast-charging stations, calling them "utterly useless—whether you can fast-charge depends entirely on luck and entirely on the energy storage cabinet." "So-called fast charging means if nobody shares the cake, it's fast charging; conversely, if many people share the cake, it becomes slow charging."
Regarding the charging problems at fast-charging stations, the BUG column consulted a certain brand's fast-charging customer service. The staff explained that if the equipment starts normally but charging takes a long time, it may be due to insufficient energy storage cabinet power. "The energy storage cabinet at the fast-charging station is charged first, then provides energy to vehicles. During holidays, there may be more users, causing the energy storage cabinet to be unable to replenish in time, which leads to this situation."
On how to solve the problem of insufficient energy storage cabinet replenishment at fast-charging stations during holidays, the staff said that fast charging uses the electricity in the energy storage cabinet to charge. To achieve fast charging, the charging gun needs to reach 1,500 kilowatts of power. The energy storage cabinet replenishes itself autonomously, and there is currently no way to manually operate it. If in a hurry, one can try another fast-charging station.
Meanwhile, car owners who were previously envied for being able to swap batteries also encountered trouble during the National Day holiday. As battery swapping queues grew larger, some battery swap stations also formed lines—and some even reached a situation where there were no charged batteries to swap. A photo provided by one car owner showed that at the battery swap station he ordered from, there were 28 people waiting ahead, and the system indicated a wait of 5 hours and 16 minutes.
Behind the charging chaos
During the National Day holiday, many problems that are usually not obvious became more prominent under high traffic volumes. Some even started mobile charging businesses to profit from the chaos. A car owner revealed that some highway service areas had mobile power sources charging electric cars, but 189 yuan only provided 5 kWh of charge.
How to improve charging efficiency and reduce waiting time? Some owners said that many drivers of 800V and 5C ultra-fast charging models originally expected to be fully charged in 15 minutes and leave, but when they arrived at service areas, they found those high-power golden piles occupied by old electric cars that don't support fast charging or plug-in hybrids, trickle charging at a leisurely pace and occupying for an hour at a time. "There's a sense of helplessness that resources are being extremely wasted," this owner believes. In today's era of technological stratification, high-power charging piles should focus on turnover rate.
According to predictions from a smart vehicle networking platform, the charging peak appeared on October 1, with peak charging hours from 7 AM to 8 PM. October 5 and 6 are core return-trip periods, and the number of highway charging vehicles will remain high, with charging peak hours from 11 AM to 9 PM on October 5 and from 10 AM to 10 PM on October 6.
Senior industry insider Liu Hao pointed out that to solve such problems, infrastructure optimization must come first—popular highway trunk lines need expanded charging pile numbers. At the same time, public charging stations should be added around highway entrances and exits to divert concentrated highway charging pressure. Secondly, charging piles at highway service areas can be managed by zones—range-extended or hybrid vehicles can be directed to separate areas or guided off highways to urban areas for charging. Navigation apps can display real-time service area charging queue information, allowing car owners to plan charging in advance. Mobile charging vehicles and temporary charging piles can be added for emergency energy replenishment at popular service areas.