Washington DC – China is turning to mobile charging trucks to support electric vehicle drivers during the National Day travel rush, bringing additional power to busy highway service areas as demand reaches record levels. The approach allows charging equipment to be moved where it is needed, supplementing permanent stations during periods of heavy traffic.
According to National Energy Administration figures released on October 2, highway charging facilities supplied approximately 28.05 million kilowatt-hours of electricity on the holiday’s opening day, an increase of 60.4 percent compared with the same day last year. The figures covered 62,700 charging connectors monitored through the national platform and represented a holiday daily record.
Despite the surge, the administration said highway charging facilities “operated smoothly on the whole,” according to an English rendering of its statement reproduced by GMT Eight. The agency reported that the network continued supporting long-distance journeys by new energy vehicles as holiday demand intensified.
The report supplied with this article describes large battery-equipped trucks deployed in locations including Anhui and Jiangsu. It says some units can charge as many as eight vehicles simultaneously and serve approximately 80 cars before replenishing their own batteries. These specifications were not independently confirmed and should be understood as reported capabilities of particular equipment rather than standards applying to every mobile charging vehicle.
Official records show that mobile charging already forms part of China’s holiday transport preparations. Ahead of the 2025 National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival break, Jiangsu’s transport department announced plans to deploy more than 350 mobile charging vehicles and charging robots at exceptionally busy highway service areas. The province also expanded permanent charging capacity, combining additional fixed infrastructure with equipment that could respond to changing traffic conditions.
Mobile charging offers a practical way to address temporary demand without requiring every location to build permanent facilities for its busiest days. Its effectiveness depends on battery capacity, vehicle compatibility and timely deployment. As electric vehicle use grows, the holiday experience highlights the importance of planning charging services around both everyday travel and exceptional surges in road traffic.
