A growing number of electric vehicle owners in China are filing official complaints about the status of the thousands of newly-installed charging stations being set up across parts of China.
Yan Chuang owns an electric vehicle.
He is among a growing list of new-energy car owners who have been less-than-impressed with the electric-vehicle services being set-up along the Beijing-Shanghai expressway.
"Me and my friends were taking a trip, and we were very disappointed with the initial charging stations we used. But still, we hoped other stations along the highway would be better. However, we discovered the situation remains the same at the other two charging points along the expressway. The stations weren't working and there was no service staff available."
The Beijing-Shanghai highway became the first expressway in China to be outfitted with charging stations in mid-January.
However, the State Grid Corporation has since admitted that many of the charging points are still not in use, as the company is still trying to sort out the different payment standards across different cities.
And the complaints aren't only with the expressway.
"As a taxi driver, I have to charge my electric car three times a day, which means I can only drive for 70 to 80 kilometres each time before charging up. As such, I can't provide long-distance services for customers due to the limited charging points available in Beijing."
Flawed charging system are also affecting the profits of certian businesses.
A Beijing-based company called 'Electric Vehicle,' which provides electric cars for rent, has been losing money for over a year.
Chen Qingquan, an electric vehicle expert with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, admits the electric vehicle industry in China has still a long way to go.
"Three factors are necessary in building a better electric vehicle industry, namely good products, good infrastructure, and a good business model. Chinese companies need to take lessons from more established electric vehicles companies. There also needs to be more unified standards and new markets."
The Chinese government has several preferential policies in-place to get more people behind the wheel of electric vehicles, including subsidies for people who buy electric vehicles.
Authorities hope to have around 5-million electric cars on the road by 2020.
Overall new vehicle sales across China hit just under 20-million units through 2014.
By comparison, only around 120-thousand electric vehicles have been sold in China the past 4-years.
