What China’s electric bike charging stations can teach us all
Electric car charging stations are becoming ubiquitous across many cities in the US. But with electric bikes vastly outnumbering electric cars, should we be considering charging stations for these more popular light EVs? In China, e-bike charging stations are already commonplace. Perhaps we can learn something from them.
In fact, I didn’t know just how common these charging stations were in China until recently. I was talking with William Guo, whose company develops and markets e-bike charging adapters for European and US electric car charging stations. Basically, it’s a device that plugs into a car charging station and converts the J1772 or European Type 2 connector into a typical wall outlet for Level 1 charging. That wall outlet can then be used to plug in any standard home charger, such as for an electric bicycle, e-scooter, e-skateboard, or other device.
It’s a great solution for the Western world, but he mentioned that in China where he lives they tend to prefer just using an e-bike charging station, to which I responded “a what now?”
As it turns out, electric bike charging stations are common in China. William sent me some photos of an e-bike charging station near where he lives in Zhejiang Province, as well as a few others around town.
I actually visited Zhejiang Province in 2019, but I never saw stations like these.
There are a few designs but most are variations of a simple concept: a row of wall outlets connected to some type of payment portal.
Riders generally carry their charger with them so they can plug in at a charging station near work or any other destination. Electric bicycles in China are frequently more of a moped or scooter-style design, meaning they have more storage options on the bike that make it easier to carry the charger with them.
I asked William if riders weren’t worried about someone stealing their charger while they’re charging. “Charger theft isn’t really a problem,” he responded. “They just aren’t worth much.” It makes sense to me, especially considering a new e-bike charger on Amazon can be had for $20-$35. Considering they come from China anyway and who knows what the markup is by US importers, the local price must be pretty darn low.
William also shared with me some screenshots from the charging station app, showing the various charging options and which charging outlets are still available at any moment.
The prices are based on charging time and charging power, but seem quite reasonable. For example, a 240-minute charge at under 300W costs just 1 RMB (US $0.14). For comparison, most e-bike chargers in the US are rated at around 150-250W.
Higher power is available from the station, which would likely be used on heavier moped-style e-bikes than the type of e-bikes we generally see in the US or Europe. A 1.2 kW charger would run for about 144 minutes for the same price. Users can also pay 2 or 3 RMB (US $0.28 or $0.42) for twice or three times the charging time, which would basically cover an all-day charge.
There are other types of e-bike charging stations in China that actually have the chargers built into the machine and are better suited for those that don’t carry their charger with them. Still other designs have several AC power cords that directly plug into the charger, meaning riders can plug their chargers into that cord. That design also likely deters folks who want to use the station to get a quick charge of their phone or laptop from an AC outlet, since you don’t have a typical wall outlet on the face of the machine.
All of this goes to show just how simple electric bike charging stations can truly be. Ultimately, these are just glorified extension cords with a payment portal. That’s all you really need.
And perhaps that’s the biggest lesson of all here. If we want to make it easier for people to commute by electric bike, especially over longer distances, such simple e-bike charging stations can be a great idea. It’s not totally foreign in the US. We’ve seen examples in Oregon and New York. But those are the exception, not the rule.
Today’s throttle-controlled electric bicycles with lithium-ion batteries often have ranges of between 20-30 miles (32-50 km) when new, but that range can drop after several years. Being able to charge up while at work is a great way to avoid needing to replace a functional battery that still has a few years of use left despite not holding as much charge as it used to.
Centralized charging locations can also help combat the issue of e-bike fires in the US. It’s important to point out that e-bike fires are extremely rare. You hear about them often on the news because of the old “if it bleeds, it leads” adage. Every day hundreds of thousand of e-bikes get charged in the US without any fires. But occasionally fires due occur, often during charging, and so it is still an important issue to consider when planning for safe e-bike charging.
Having a centralized charging station for e-bikes that is outside of people’s homes or workplaces helps improve safety. Such stations can even be fitted with an appropriate fire suppression system in the ceiling, just in case.
While the US use case for e-bikes isn’t quite the same as in China where e-bikes are used by a huge swath of the population as primary vehicles, there are still plenty of people in the US that could make use of e-bike charging stations.
And when they’re this simple to set up, perhaps it’s something more places should be considering. They’d be useful for more than just electric bikes, but also Vespa-style electric scooters and even electric motorcycles that don’t have typical charging station connectors.
Just for fun, I’ll leave you with an image from 2015 when I did a 500-mile (800 km) trip on a DIY electric bike and I had to find places to charge along the way (despite having a massive 2.8 kWh of battery on the bike).
Pro tip: look for vending machines and ice machines. In a pinch, they’ll lead you to an outlet. Buying something from the place you “borrow” $0.30 of electricity from is a nice gesture, too.
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Japanese equipment giant Kubota brought 22 new or updated machines to the 2025 bauma expo earlier this year, but tucked away in the corners was a new retrofit kit that can help existing customers decarbonize more quickly, and more affordably.
No matter how badly a fleet may want to electrify, harsh economic realities and the greater up-front costs typically associated with battery electric remain high hurdles to overcome, but new retrofit options from major manufacturers are popping up to help lower those obstacles.
The latest equipment maker to put its name on the retrofit list is Kubota, who says its kit can be installed by a trained dealer in a single day.
That’s right! By this time tomorrow, your diesel-powered Kubota KX019 or U27-4 excavator (shown) could be fitted with an 18 or 20 kWh li-ion battery pack and electric drive motors and ready to get to work in a low-noise or low-vibration work environment where emissions are a strict no-no. Think indoor precision demolition or historic archeological excavation.
Then, if necessary, it can go right back to diesel power.
From diesel to electric and back again
If that sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve talked about a similarly flexible power solution from ZQUIP. The battery packs and diesel engines are much larger in that application, but the basic sales pitch remains the same: electric when it benefits your operation, diesel it doesn’t.
Kubota says its modular retrofit kits is a response to the increasing global demand for sustainable alternatives by focusing on making machinery that’s flexible and repairable enough to be “reusable,” and offer construction fleet managers a longer operational lifespan, superior ROI (return on investment), and lower TCO (total cost of ownership) than the competition.
Kubota’s solution also notably reduces maintenance costs and operational overheads. With no engine and associated components, servicing time and expenses are considerably reduced, saving customers both time and money. Additionally, with electricity costing far less than fossil fuels, it offers a highly economical advantage.
International Rental News reports that other changes to the excavators include a more modern cab controls with a digital instrument cluster, a 60 mm wider undercarriage for more stability, and an independent travel circuit allows operators to use the boom, dipper, bucket, and auxiliary functions without an impact on tracking performance.
Kubota’s new kit, first shown at last year’s Hillhead exhibition in the UK, will officially be on sale this summer – any day now, in fact – though pricing has yet to be announced.
Electrek’s Take
If you’re wondering how it is that we’re still talking about bauma 2025 a full quarter after the show wrapped up, then I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining how positively massive the show was. Check out this Quick Charge episode (above) then let us know what you think of Kubota’s modular power kits in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Kubota, via International Rental News.
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Elon Musk isn’t happy about Trump passing the Big Beautiful Bill and killing off the $7,500 EV tax credit – but there’s a lot more bad news for Tesla baked into the BBB. We’ve got all that and more on today’s budget-busting episode of Quick Charge!
We also present ongoing coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix and dive into some two wheeled reports on the new electric Honda Ruckus e:Zoomer, the latest BMW electric two-wheeler, and more!
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Environment
FERC: Solar + wind made up 96% of new US power generating capacity in first third of 2025
Solar and wind accounted for almost 96% of new US electrical generating capacity added in the first third of 2025. In April, solar provided 87% of new capacity, making it the 20th consecutive month solar has taken the lead, according to data belatedly posted on July 1 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.
Solar’s new generating capacity in April 2025 and YTD
In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through April 30, 2025), FERC says 50 “units” of solar totaling 2,284 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in April, accounting for 86.7% of all new generating capacity added during the month.
In addition, the 9,451 MW of solar added during the first four months of 2025 was 77.7% of the new generation placed into service.
Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for 20 consecutive months, from September 2023 to April 2025.
Solar + wind were >95% of new capacity in 1st third of 2025
Between January and April 2025, new wind provided 2,183 MW of capacity additions, accounting for 18.0% of new additions in the first third.
In the same period, the combination of solar and wind was 95.7% of new capacity while natural gas (511 MW) provided just 4.2%; the remaining 0.1% came from oil (11 MW).
Solar + wind are >22% of US utility-scale generating capacity
The installed capacities of solar (11.0%) and wind (11.8%) are now each more than a tenth of the US total. Together, they make up almost one-fourth (22.8%) of the US’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.
Moreover, at least 25-30% of US solar capacity is in small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the US total.
With the inclusion of hydropower (7.7%), biomass (1.1%), and geothermal (0.3%), renewables currently claim a 31.8% share of total US utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are now about one-third of total US generating capacity.
Solar is on track to become No. 2 source of US generating capacity
FERC reports that net “high probability” additions of solar between May 2025 and April 2028 total 90,158 MW – an amount almost four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (22,793 MW), the second-fastest growing resource. Notably, both three-year projections are higher than those provided just a month earlier.
FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (596 MW) and geothermal (92 MW) but a decrease of 123 MW in biomass capacity.
Taken together, the net new “high probability” capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years – i.e., the bulk of the Trump administration’s remaining time in office – would total 113,516 MW.
FERC doesn’t include any nuclear capacity in its three-year forecast, while coal and oil are projected to contract by 24,373 MW and 1,915 MW, respectively. Natural gas capacity would expand by 5,730 MW.
Thus, adjusting for the different capacity factors of gas (59.7%), wind (34.3%), and utility-scale solar (23.4%), electricity generated by the projected new solar capacity to be added in the coming three years should be at least six times greater than that produced by the new natural gas capacity, while the electrical output by new wind capacity would be more than double that by gas.
If FERC’s current “high probability” additions materialize, by May 1, 2028, solar will account for one-sixth (16.6%) of US installed utility-scale generating capacity. Wind would provide an additional one-eighth (12.6%) of the total. That would make each greater than coal (12.2%) and substantially more than nuclear power or hydropower (7.3% and 7.2%, respectively).
In fact, assuming current growth rates continue, the installed capacity of utility-scale solar is likely to surpass that of either coal or wind within two years, placing solar in second place for installed generating capacity, behind only natural gas.
Renewables + small-scale solar may overtake natural gas within 3 years
The mix of all utility-scale (ie, >1 MW) renewables is now adding about two percentage points each year to its share of generating capacity. At that pace, by May 1, 2028, renewables would account for 37.7% of total available installed utility-scale generating capacity – rapidly approaching that of natural gas (40.1%). Solar and wind would constitute more than three-quarters of installed renewable energy capacity. If those trend lines continue, utility-scale renewable energy capacity should surpass that of natural gas in 2029 or sooner.
However, as noted, FERC’s data do not account for the capacity of small-scale solar systems. If that’s factored in, within three years, total US solar capacity could exceed 300 GW. In turn, the mix of all renewables would then be about 40% of total installed capacity while the share of natural gas would drop to about 38%.
Moreover, FERC reports that there may actually be as much as 224,426 MW of net new solar additions in the current three-year pipeline in addition to 69,530 MW of new wind, 9,072 MW of new hydropower, 202 MW of new geothermal, and 39 MW of new biomass. By contrast, net new natural gas capacity potentially in the three-year pipeline totals just 26,818 MW. Consequently, renewables’ share could be even greater by mid-spring 2028.
“The Trump Administration’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ … poses a clear threat to solar and wind in the years to come,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “Nonetheless, FERC’s latest data and forecasts suggest cleaner and lower-cost renewable energy sources may still dominate and surpass nuclear power, coal, and natural gas.”
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