A new electric vehicle charging station was officially opened for use on the sixth floor of a parking garage at SOHO Modern City in Chaoyang District, Beijing，August 8, 2017. (Photo/Beijing Morning Post)
(ECNS) -- A new electric vehicle (EV) charging station was officially opened for use in Beijing's central business district on Tuesday and the city plans to introduce more, Beijing Morning Post reported.
The charging facility, located on the sixth floor of a parking garage at SOHO Modern City in Chaoyang District, provides a 30-minute charge and can accommodate the simultaneous charging of 101 EVs.
Chen Shuling, of the Beijing Changdee Technology Development Co, which built the unit, said the facility can charge more than 500 EVs on a daily basis, and would help ease the shortage of charging piles in the CBD.
Users can switch on the charging process and make payments via their smartphones, then watch TV in a lounge to kill time.
The charging rate is 1.09 yuan ($0.16) per kWh during the peak season of July and August, while the off-peak rate is just 0.39 yuan.
Chen said the station is equipped with four 630KW box-type transformers, so off-peak rates are available, which would significantly lower charging costs for users.
Nan Bin, a city administration official, said there were 135,400 new-energy vehicles in Beijing at the end of June, including about 86,500 privately owned pure EVs.
Currently, a public charging network with an average service radius of less than five kilometers covers areas within the 6th Ring Road.
By 2020, charging piles would be available within every 900 meters in core city areas, including Dongcheng and Xicheng districts, the Beijing sub-center in Tongzhou district, the new airport, and the Winter Olympics zone, Nan said.
