BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's charging network for electric vehicles (EVs) continued to expand swiftly in January, with the number of charging connectors totaling 20.7 million by the end of last month, official data showed on Friday.

This figure marked a sharp increase of 49.6 percent from one year earlier, according to the data from the National Energy Administration.

Of these, around 4.8 million were public charging facilities while 15.9 million were private, up 31.2 percent and 56.1 percent year on year, respectively, the data revealed.

The combined rated power of public EV charging facilities had reached 226 million kilowatts at the end of January, or approximately 47.01 kilowatts per charging facility on average, the data showed.

The expansion of China's charging network stems from the increasing popularity of green EVs among Chinese consumers in recent years.

In 2025, new energy vehicles saw accelerated growth momentum in the country, with production and sales totaling 16.626 million and 16.49 million units, respectively, growing by 29 percent and 28.2 percent year on year, respectively, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In October 2025, China unveiled a three-year action plan to improve the country's EV charging infrastructure, aiming to establish a nationwide network of 28 million charging facilities, with public charging capacity surpassing 300 million kilowatts by the end of 2027. ■