EVs put an end to Chinas usual holiday surge in gasoline use

By Sam Li and Lewis Jackson

BEIJING (GWN) -Tianyu Jiang took a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) highway journey this month during China’s national holiday week, driving in his electric vehicle from the southwestern Sichuan basin to Beijing for the first time.

“I used to drive a petrol car and had never taken an EV for such a big trip, but long-distance driving for an EV doesn’t feel like a problem anymore,” Jiang said.

He is among tens of tens of millions of Chinese more and more taking to EV autos, who benefited from expanded charging infrastructure to reverse the usual increase in gasoline use during the October holiday recognized as “Golden Week”.

Far from a peak, China’s gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the 12 months to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September, according to Chinese consultancy Sublime China Information (SCI).

The sagging holiday demand is symptomatic of the broader decline in Chinese fuel use stemming from wider EV adoption, heralding the approaching end of its decades-long function as the main driving drive of new global oil demand.

Gasoline consumption in the world’s largest importer of crude peaked in 2023 and the research unit of state oil company Sinopec expects demand to fall more than 4% this 12 months from 2024.

During the first 9 months of the 12 months, EVs and hybrids made up nearly half of all new car gross sales.

A fifth of the 63.5 million car journeys during the eight-day holiday break had been in electric or hybrid autos, the transport ministry says.

Daily use of electrical energy by charging stations, a proxy for EV use, rose 45.73% during Golden Week this 12 months, versus 2024.

EV adoption has benefited from China’s push to construct charging infrastructure, with some 18 million charging ports by the end of September, up 54.5% on the 12 months.

“During travel peaks, both charging and refuelling mean waiting,” said Jiang. “If you really need a charge, exit the highway and you will find charging stations within 10 km (6 miles), and it’s cheap.”

(Reporting by Sam Li and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)