China accelerates improvement of car charging services

China's local authorities will speed up the construction of charging stations for electric cars in urban regions, helping eliminate a major hurdle for the country's new energy vehicle sector. The Chinese capital announced this week it will add 1,000 electric chargers by the end of this year. Beijing has 65 stations equipped with 1,200 chargers, with the largest station able to charge 210 vehicles at same time. Chargers will cover the city's central district, with each serving a five-km-radius, according to a report in Shanghai Securities News. Authorities in eastern cities of Shanghai and Hefei are mulling over measures requiring new residential property projects to set aside land for automotive chargers. The country's 13 provincial and municipal governments pushed ahead with policies that support the construction of charging stations. The lagged infrastructure, such as a lack of charging spots, has created major barriers for the country's electric sedan market. Buyers still face difficulties in finding charging stations when their batteries are low, which in turn has impacted on sales of the environmentally-friendly vehicles. The central government expects sales of pure electric and hybrid vehicles to reach 500,000 units by the end of 2015.