As electric vehicles can significantly reduce the direct carbon emissions from petroleum, promoting the development of the electric vehicle market has been a new concentration for the auto industry. However, insufficient public charging infrastructure has become a significant obstacle to the further growth of electric vehicle sales. This paper estimates the impact of the availability of public charging piles on electric vehicle sales using panel regression analysis. It then investigates the barriers to the construction and operation of the public charging piles based on a field survey in 101 communities in Beijing, China. We find that insufficient public charging piles would significantly limit the sales of electric vehicles, in particular when the public charging piles are built up for specific users or in developed regions where private parking spaces are limited. It is found that the top four barriers are limited parking spaces, complicated circuit modification, unclear responsibilities for property management companies, and the objection or high mobility of existing parking space users.