China's electric-vehicle charging network kept its rapid build-out, with the National Energy Administration reporting on October 22 that the country had 24.777 million charging points by the end of September 2026, up 37.2 percent year on year. Public charging points reached 5.207 million, up 16.3 percent, with a combined rated power of 266 gigawatts and an average of about 51.10 kW per point; private charging points totaled 19.57 million, up 44.0 percent, with a registered electricity capacity of 167 million kVA.
On the same day, industry media flagged the publication of a new national standard, "Test Methods for In-Service Inspection of Electric-Vehicle Traction Batteries," designed to standardize health checks on batteries already in use. As the national EV parc swells, the standard is expected to support the battery-swap, second-life and recycling markets by giving operators a consistent way to gauge pack condition.
On autonomous driving, MIIT official Guo Shougang said the second batch of L3 conditional-automation access pilot is underway. BYD said its L3-capable models could land around 2028, NIO said the timeline depends on when regulators permit it, and Changan targeted L3 mass production in 2027, while XPeng's He Xiaopeng argued the industry should "skip L3" because the level only transfers liability without improving the user experience. Separate CPCA data showed October 1-18 NEV wholesale at 655,000 units, up 5 percent year on year.
Source: National Energy Administration; Jin10 daily EV digest; MIIT / CPCA, October 22, 2026
