I’ll be honest with you: most ‘buying guides’ designed to help you find suppliers of electric vehicle charging stations in China have been written by people who have never actually ordered a product. They’ll tell you things like ‘make sure they have all the necessary certifications’ or ‘you absolutely must visit the factory’. But they won’t tell you what you actually need to check on site, or what happens if problems arise after you’ve received your order.
I’ve spent years working in this sector. We supply distributors, EPC contractors and fleet operators in over 100 countries. And what sets savvy buyers apart from those who make costly mistakes? It’s not what you’d expect.
Here are the 7 questions you should actually be asking.
Question 1: “Can I see the original test report carried out by a third-party body — and not just the certificate?”
This is, without a doubt, the most important question you can ask, and yet most people don’t even bother to ask it.
You see, it’s easy to forge a CE certificate. Or, more accurately, it’s easy to obtain a perfectly genuine CE certificate for a product that hasn’t been tested for compliance with CE standards. Some manufacturers test one configuration of a product, obtain the certificate, then ship you a different configuration without retesting.
What you want to see is the actual test report issued by an independent laboratory — TÜV, SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, etc. This is a multi-page document containing the actual test data, test results, pass/fail values, and it bears the laboratory’s logo. If your supplier cannot show you this, steer clear of them.
At Hongjiali, we hold CE, TÜV, SAA, CB, ETL and RoHS certifications. Each of these comes with test reports that we’ll be happy to provide before you even place an order. That’s how it works.
Question 2: “What happens if a device breaks down in the field — more specifically, what are your guaranteed response times?”
Every manufacturer will tell you they have “good after-sales service”. That means nothing. What you need are specific contractual commitments.
So ask:
- The response time to a service ticket (in hours, not ‘as soon as possible’)
- The on-site response time in the event of a hardware failure
- The resolution time
- Whether they have service partners in your country or region
I know a distributor in the Netherlands who learnt this the hard way. He bought 40 units from a Chinese manufacturer offering “excellent after-sales service”. When three units broke down within six months, the manufacturer asked for photos and promised to send spare parts within two to four weeks. Meanwhile, his end customer — a shopping centre — was left with out-of-service chargers in a prime parking spot for a month.
Our commitment is simple: response to tickets within 2 hours, on-site intervention within 24 hours for critical faults, resolution within 48 hours. We have service partners in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the IMEA region. These aren’t marketing promises — they’re in the contract.
Question 3: “Show me the actual bill of materials for this product.”
You’d be surprised how many buyers never ask this question. And you’d be just as surprised to learn how many manufacturers refuse to provide it — which speaks volumes.
The bill of materials reveals what’s actually inside the enclosure. A few points to check:
- Power modules: do they use IGBTs or silicon carbide (SiC)? Are they branded components (Infineon, Wolfspeed, Mitsubishi) or generic ones? SiC is more expensive but offers an efficiency of 95–97%, whilst poor-quality IGBTs only reach 85–91%. This difference is reflected every month on your customer’s electricity bill.
- Contactors and relays: these components have the highest failure rate. Brand-name components such as Schneider, TE Connectivity or Omron publish data on their failure rates. This is not the case with generic components: you don’t know what to expect.
- Steel thickness of the enclosure: 1.5 mm versus 2.0 mm. This may seem like a small difference. It isn’t when you’re dealing with salt air in a coastal environment.
A genuine manufacturer proud of what they sell will be happy to answer your questions. A manufacturer who hides component substitutions will give you vague answers about ‘quality components’ and ‘international standards’.
Question 4: “What is your actual production capacity, and can I verify it?”
Here’s a scenario that happens more often than anyone in this sector is willing to admit: you place an order, are given a promised delivery date, then spend the next three months chasing your supplier whilst your project deadline passes.
You want to know:
- Their monthly production capacity for the specific model you are ordering
- Their current order book and delivery times
- Whether they have their own production facility or outsource manufacturing
This last point is important. Some ‘manufacturers’ are actually trading companies that outsource production. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but quality control is less direct, delivery times are less predictable and after-sales responsibility becomes unclear.
Hongjiali operates a 30,000 m² production facility in Shenzhen, employing 209 people. We manufacture in-house. When we give you a delivery date, it is based on our own production schedule — it is not a commitment we are making to a factory over which we have no control.
Question 5: “Can you describe your OCPP implementation? More specifically, which version and features are actually operational?”
This question will help you distinguish genuine manufacturers from those who simply state “OCPP 1.6” in their technical specifications without supporting all the features.
OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol) is the communication standard between charging stations and management systems. The problem is that the “OCPP 1.6 compatible” designation can cover a range of realities: from a complete implementation to support for only a few of the forty main features.
What questions should you ask?
- Which version of OCPP: 1.6J or 2.0.1?
- Have they successfully passed the OCPP certification tests with an accredited body?
- Which features are actually operational: remote start/stop, smart charging profiles, real-time metering, OTA updates, load management?
- Is their cloud platform a paid service, or is access included?
Some manufacturers charge between $500 and $2,000 per year per station, just for access to the cloud platform. Hongjiali’s OCPP-compliant cloud management is included with the hardware: no mandatory annual fee for basic monitoring. We don’t hide essential features behind a SaaS system.
Question 6: “What is your minimum order quantity for OEM products, and what exactly does full customization include?”
If you are developing a charging network under your own brand, or if you are an EPC contractor whose clients require customized equipment, this question is crucial.
“OEM available” is one of the most overused phrases in the Chinese manufacturing sector. What it usually means: We’ll put your label on our standard product. What it should mean: We can customize the casing, user interface, cable specifications, connector type, branding elements, and documentation to match your brand.
So, ask them:
- What is the minimum order quantity for OEM customization? (Expect around 5 to 10 units for standard customization; more for casing modifications.)
- What exactly does “OEM” include? A simple logo or a complete user interface customization?
- What are the tooling costs for casing modifications? (Expect to pay between $5,000 and $20,000 for entirely new tooling.)
- Are samples available before mass production begins?
At Hongjiali, we have over 80 R&D engineers and more than 40 patents. We offer comprehensive ODM services, where we develop a new product from start to finish according to your specifications. This isn’t just a marketing ploy. If you want to create a product line rather than resell rebranded standard equipment, this distinction is important.
Question 7: “Give me three distributor references in markets similar to mine.”
The last question, the one most buyers forget to ask.
No testimonials on a website. No list of logos. Contact information for distributors or installers who have already deployed this manufacturer’s products in your target market (North America, Europe, Australia, etc.).
A well-established and reputable manufacturer in your target market will easily be able to provide these references. A manufacturer that primarily sells domestically and is looking to expand internationally will have more difficulty providing them.
When contacting their references, ask them the following questions:
- Were the products delivered on time and as specified?
- What was the defect rate during the first 12 months?
- How did the manufacturer handle warranty claims?
- Would you recommend this product?
These four answers will tell you more than a factory visit.
Note on Price
You’ll notice I haven’t talked much about price. That’s intentional.
In this industry, price is almost always a bad starting point. The real question is the total cost of ownership: how much does this equipment cost to purchase, install, maintain, and replace over a five-year period?
A charger that’s 15% cheaper to buy but has a 12% failure rate in year two is not a good deal. A charger certified to European standards and legally deployable without further testing is far better than a cheaper model held up in customs.
We offer competitive pricing: direct factory prices, no intermediaries, and volume-based framework agreements generally 8 to 15% lower than retail prices. But we prefer to lose a contract to a buyer solely interested in the unit price rather than win it and spend the next two years dealing with warranty claims and dissatisfied customers.
About Hongjiali New Energy
We have been manufacturing electric vehicle charging equipment since 2016. Our 30,000 m² production facility is located in Shenzhen. We employ 209 people, including more than 80 R&D engineers, and offer over 200 product models, ranging from 7 kW AC chargers to 2.6 MW distributed charging systems.
Certifications: CE, TÜV, SAA, CB, ETL, RoHS, ISO 9001.
We supply Fortune 500 companies. We are ranked #4 for ground-mounted charging stations on Alibaba.com. Our on-time delivery rate is 100%.
If you are evaluating Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicle charging stations and would like clear answers to the seven questions above, please contact us. We will respond within 24 hours with documentation, references, and pricing – no pressure, no surprises.
[Contact Hongjiali New Energy →]