CONSTRUCTION on Qingdao Xuejiadao Electric Bus Charging Station started April 10. The first commercial electric vehicle charging station in China, the project will be completed by the end of June.

    The EV charging station with an investment of 290 million yuan (US$44.3 million) will provide battery recharging and replacement services to a total of 180 electric buses to be put into service in Qingdao.

    It takes about eight minutes to replace the batteries. The station can accommodate six buses at a time.

    The city will start to build four EV charging stations this year.

    Two large-scale EV charging stations, 15 standard EV charging stations and 10,000 EV charging stands are planned to be built between 2011 and 2015, providing service to an estimated 30,000 electric vehicles in the city.

    (Chen Ting, Lin Wenhui)