Why Must We Move from "Accessible Charging" to "Green Charging"?
As the scale of new energy vehicles continues to expand, recharging infrastructure has become a significant driver of electricity consumption growth in China. Data from the National Energy Administration shows that in the first half of 2026, electricity consumption by China's charging and battery-swapping services exceeded 81 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 56.9%.
In the past, the core logic of the industry was "replacing oil with electricity." However, as charging demand itself has become a major incremental load on the power system, if this new demand is still primarily met by conventional energy sources, the carbon reduction benefits of electrification will be significantly diminished. Lv Lanchun, Assistant to the President of the Tsinghua-Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, pointed out that where the electricity charged into new energy vehicles comes from-and how much of it comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar-will increasingly and directly determine how much carbon reduction value electric vehicles can deliver.
In July 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development," which explicitly proposed promoting "green cars charging green electricity." The role of charging infrastructure is thus evolving from a simple energy replenishment terminal into a connecting point between transportation decarbonization and energy transition.
Four Green Charging Pathways Established by the Industry
Depending on site conditions, load scale, and trading capabilities, the industry has developed four main green charging pathways:
Green Certificate Trading: Suitable for dispersed public stations in urban core areas and underground parking lots. It offers broad applicability, low retrofitting costs, and can quickly establish green claims.
Green Electricity Trading: Suitable for stations with independent utility accounts, large load scales, and strong trading capabilities. Electricity volume and green attributes are directly bundled, and can be combined with off-peak pricing incentives.
Integrated Solar-Storage-Charging: Suitable for industrial parks, bus and logistics depots, and highway service areas. It offers strong visual impact and high demonstration value, while enhancing local consumption and peak-shaving capabilities.
Virtual Power Plants / Demand Response / V2G: Suitable for dedicated fleets and operators with large aggregated scales in small-to-medium parks. It can unlock load regulation value and promote matching with renewable energy generation periods.
Real-World Challenges: Multiple Barriers Remain from Vision to Implementation
The Independent Utility Account Dilemma: A large number of public charging stations are located in shopping malls, office buildings, and underground parking lots, where operators lack independent utility accounts and cannot directly participate in green electricity trading. They often have to rely on purchasing green certificates to make green claims.
Missing Commercial Closed Loop: Green electricity consumption-from power procurement to metering and settlement, and then to the realization of green attributes-directly affects operators' costs and revenues. Without stable incentive and return mechanisms, large-scale promotion driven solely by voluntary corporate investment is unsustainable.
The "Last Mile" of Green Attribute Transmission: Green electricity is typically procured by operators in bulk, making it difficult to verify the specific green electricity corresponding to each individual driver and each charging session. Companies bear the procurement costs, yet consumers may not perceive the benefit.
Industry Practices and Policy Recommendations
Corporate Exploration: The BMW Brilliance and Mercedes-Benz joint venture brand Yian Qichao has incorporated 100% green electricity consumption into its network planning from the outset. As of August 2026, over 500 of its charging stations have achieved green electricity coverage through the purchase of green certificates. Lianlian Ruike's agency-managed charging and battery-swapping stations reached a green electricity consumption scale of 600 million kWh in 2025.
Policy Recommendations: The report puts forward recommendations across six dimensions-establishing a top-level institutional framework; setting differentiated green electricity consumption targets by category; incorporating green electricity consumption as a core indicator in station star-rating evaluations and fiscal subsidies; improving mechanisms for independent metering, agency trading, and participation by small and medium-sized operators; promoting collaborative innovation in green electricity trading, direct green electricity connection, and virtual power plant mechanisms; and building user-facing green charging accounts and benefit feedback mechanisms.
From "accessible charging" to "green charging" is, in essence, a critical step for the new energy vehicle industry in moving from vehicle electrification to full life-cycle decarbonization. As metering, trading, pricing, certification, and incentive mechanisms are progressively integrated, charging loads have the potential to transform from a new source of grid pressure into a flexible resource that promotes renewable energy consumption.