BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- As of Saturday, 850 electric vehicle (EV) charging piles in highway service areas in east China's Jiangsu Province have been upgraded to support green travel during the upcoming National Day holiday, according to the State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd.
Jiangsu is among the first batch of Chinese provinces to install charging piles in highway service areas, with the average service life of 850 piles recently reaching 6 years. Since August, the State Grid branch has started the replacing project of these charging piles.
With the project completed, the maximum power capacity of the charging piles increased form 120 to 160 kilowatts each, allowing access for an additional 200 EVs in the province to charging piles per hour, which will significantly improve the charging efficiency for EV owners during the upcoming holiday, according to Jiao Xize, a representative with State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd.
To achieve 100-percent green power supply during the holiday, the company has guaranteed 7 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of centralized and distributed photovoltaic green power through market-oriented transactions, committed to guiding EV owners toward using green electricity.
It is expected that the daily charging capacity of highway service areas in Jiangsu will reach 1 million kWh during the upcoming holiday.
In addition to installing the brand-new charging piles, the State Grid branch will also allocate 17 charging vehicles and 14 movable charging piles to carry out emergency charging services, arranging inspecting and maintenance staffs to provide on-stie services, so as to ensure a green National Day holiday. (Edited by Yu Huichen with Xinhua Silk Road, yuhuichen@xinhua.org)
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