China On the March With Multitude of Electric Vehicle, Hybrid Projects
By John O'Dell November 20, 2009Several Plans Involve Greater Cooperation With Taiwan in EV Development
Here's a roundup of news out of China as that country tries to outplay the competition in the electric vehicles game:
Next at Bat
Mainland automaker Chery Automobile is expected to announce soon its plan to establish a global electric vehicle R&D center across the straight in Taiwan.
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Electric version of Panda sedan from China's Geely Automobile reportedly is being built in Taiwan.
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The China Economic News service says sources in Taiwan told it the Chery R&D facility would be built at the Green Energy Intelligent Vehicle Innovation Park in Taiwan's Changhua Coastal Industrial Area.
You're forgiven if you didn't know Taiwan had an EV development complex. We didn't either.
Turns out that the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs is extending incentives for manufacturers of EVs and related components to establish their operations in and around the innovation center.
Not only that, analysts at IHS Global Insight say Taiwanese automaker Yulon Motor has already unveiled an EV of its own - the Luxgen EV Plus - and is set to work with China's Geely Auto on an electric version of the Geely Panda subcompact.
Chery has its own alliance with a Taiwanese contract car builder - Prince Motors - that assembles Chery autos in Taiwan and is likely to be involved in the new electric vehicle research center.
Heading for First
Automakers in Taiwan and China are expected to announced at a joint conference next week plans to team up to build 45,000 electric cars a year on the island by 2015, with about 30 percent slated for export.
The announcement, according to the Chinese auto parts industry news service gasgoo.com, is expected to come during a Nov. 24-25 "Bridge-Building" conference designed ot help bolster business ties between China and Taiwan.
On Second
A group of ten Chinese automakers have formed an alliance to jointly develop electric vehicles and related components, according to a report in Automotive News China.
Dong Yang, chief secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, confirmed that the alliance was bring formed but didn't provide any details, in subscription-only industry journal reports.
The automakers include most of China's largest: Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), First Automotive Works (FAW) Group, Dongfeng Motor, Chongqing Changan Automobile, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC), Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei Automotive, Chery Automobile, and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group.
China has launched a government-supported effort to leapfrog its transportation systems into the 21st Century and become a leader in the development of EVs.
Rounding Third
Chinese auto components supplier Far East Golden Resources Group says it is investing 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) to boost production of hybrid vehicle power systems in China, gasgoo.com reports.
The investment will be managed through Far East's Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corporation subsidiary, which appears to be incorporated in the U.S. and recently aired an iffy plan to build a huge hybrid car plant in Mississippi.
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