On September 15, XPeng Group's first global megawatt flash-charging station was put into operation in Hong Kong. Jointly built by XPeng and Halo and open to owners of all brands, it has become a new example of Chinese automakers' overseas charging network layout. On the same day, the China EV100 Research Institute said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, exports plus overseas production should shift from speed to quality, with a reasonable target of 10 million to 15 million vehicles per year. It forecast that NEV sales in 2026 will be about 18.4 million units, with a penetration rate of about 55%. The charging network needs to match the pace of exports and local power and site conditions.
On September 15, XPeng Group announced that the world's first X-Energy megawatt flash charging station has officially landed in Hong Kong and begun operation. The station was jointly built by XPeng Group and Halo and is open to owners of all brands. Beyond vehicle exports and overseas localized production, charging facilities are being placed in a more prominent position.
First Station Lands in Hong Kong: Joint Construction and All-Brand Access
Based on public information, two features of the station are noteworthy: first, its construction model—it was jointly built by XPeng and Halo rather than independently invested in and built by the automaker; second, its scope of openness—it is open to owners of all brands, rather than serving only XPeng owners.
In cities with relatively tight land and electricity resources, joint construction helps share the upfront investment in station construction, while all-brand access helps increase per-station utilization. For automakers hoping to use charging experience to support their brand positioning, these two approaches mean that the asset structure of overseas charging networks may rely more on partners than domestic ones.
As of now, public information has not disclosed further details about the station's investment scale, the number of follow-up stations, or planned cities.
Two Domestic Validation Paths for Charging Networks
Before overseas charging networks reach scale, Chinese automakers' charging operation capabilities are mainly validated domestically. Take the battery-swapping route as an example. Recently, Yu Dongming, general manager of NIO Anhui, posted that the firefly Firefly has surpassed 10,000 cumulative battery swaps, and the related battery-swap service has covered 33 cities and 42 battery-swap stations nationwide. The model supports 3-minute ultra-fast full-charge replenishment, can automatically park into a battery-swap station and start swapping with one touch inside the vehicle, with no need to get out throughout the process. During the swap, the station simultaneously performs a comprehensive health check on the battery pack.
Battery swapping and ultra-fast charging are two parallel charging routes. Their commonality is that both require long-term accumulation of station density, usage frequency, and per-station efficiency. These operational metrics often determine whether an automaker can replicate its charging network in overseas markets.
Going Global Goals: From Speed to Quality
The charging network is one part of the going-global system, and its pace of expansion depends on the overall planning of vehicle exports and overseas production.
On September 15, Zhang Yongwei, chairman of the China EV100 Research Institute, said at the China EV100 Annual Conference and Smart Electric Vehicle Development High-Level Forum (2027) media briefing that maintaining stability in the auto market is an important task supporting economic development. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the overall annual sales scale of the auto market needs to be maintained at 35–40 million vehicles, of which 25 million in the domestic market is an important task for stabilizing the domestic circulation; exports plus overseas production should shift from speed to quality, with a reasonable target of 10–15 million vehicles per year.
China EV100 also predicts that overall auto sales in 2026 will decline slightly by 3% to about 33.4 million vehicles, but will still be higher than 2024 sales; annual sales of new energy vehicles are expected to be 18.4 million, up 12% year-on-year, with an overall penetration rate of about 55%. The institution believes that China's auto market will enter a repair period in 2027.
The clear goal for exports and overseas production of "shifting from speed to quality" means that investment in overseas charging, after-sales, and other supporting systems needs to match the pace of sales, rather than making isolated breakthroughs.
Real Constraints of Battery Supply and Profit Distribution
The costs of charging facilities and vehicles are ultimately affected by supply in the industrial chain and the profit structure.
Data released by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance for August 2026 show that the country's combined output of power and energy-storage batteries reached 237.0 GWh that month, up 8.8% month on month and 69.8% year on year; cumulative output for January–August was 1,523.9 GWh, up 57.0% year on year. On the end-user installation side, domestic power battery installations in August were 79 GWh, up 26.3% year on year, with both supply and demand maintaining relatively rapid growth.
The contrast in profit distribution is more telling. CATL's net profit in the first half of 2026 was approximately RMB 43.3 billion, equivalent to average daily net profit of RMB 240 million; the 15 A-share and Hong Kong-listed vehicle manufacturers covered in the same period had combined net profit of only about RMB 20.4 billion, less than half of CATL's total. These 15 automakers had combined net profit of RMB 35.131 billion in the first half of 2025, meaning their profits shrank by RMB 14 billion in a year.
On the policy front, on September 15 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry," proposing to consolidate the advantages of the energy electronics industry, enhance innovation capacity across the entire new battery industrial chain, consolidate the competitive advantages of lithium batteries, continue to advance the industrialization of solid-state batteries, sodium batteries, flow batteries, fuel cells, and others, and support the application of new batteries in scenarios such as smart terminals and new energy vehicles.
Summary
XPeng has placed its first X-Energy megawatt fast-charging station in Hong Kong and adopted a model of co-building with Halo and opening it to all brands, providing a concrete sample for observing Chinese automakers' overseas charging infrastructure layout. Whether co-building and openness can lower per-station costs and increase utilization, and whether the charging network can match export pace as well as local power and site conditions, still await verification through subsequent operating data.
