New energy vehicle charging stations have started operating in the Beijing-Lhasa Expressway Hohhot West Service Area -- marking the first batch of NEV charging stations set up at expressway service areas in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, according to local media reports.

Officials said there are one charging station each deployed on the north and south sides of the service area. Each charging station has a total of six charging piles with a total power of 360 kilowatts, which can be used by 12 electric vehicles at the same time.

The car owner only needs to scan the code using a mobile phone and the charging can be completed in 40 minutes. According to estimates, each charging station can provide charging services for more than 40 vehicles throughout the day and the two charging stations can charge more than 240 vehicles per day.

This year, Inner Mongolia Senior Highway Construction and Development Co will increase the construction of charging piles.

It will continue to build 16 charging stations in eight pairs of service areas in the Inner Mongolia section of the Beijing-Lasa Expressway and the Beijing-Urumqi Expressway.