The largest production base for electric vehicles in the world was established in the western part of the TEDA and went on stream in July, 2008. The first batch of 456 electric vehicles was exported to the USA, used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), California Institute of Technology and elsewhere.
Citroen in France used to own world’s biggest production line of electric vehicles, with an annual capacity of 3,000. But now, Tianjin has taken Citroen’s place to be the super powerhouse for electricity vehicle production, with its total investment reaching 165 million yuan, a plant covering a space of 60,000 square meters, and once on stream, an annual production capacity of 20,000 electric sedans and 1,000 electric buses and specialized vehicles.
Covering a space of 60,000 square meters, and constructed by Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. this production hub is fully capable of developing and manufacturing electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel-cell hybrid vehicles, among which the production capacity of electric vehicles has amounted to 20,000 annually and engine sets 30,000 per year. Tianjin has grown into the most important R&D center of electric vehicles in China after eight years’ hard efforts in this regard. It has independently developed a series of electric vehicles, such as electric sedans, high-speed electric vehicles, electric buses, electric tourist cars, as well as sedans, buses and coaches with hybrid powers. Modeling “Hafei Saibao” and powered by lithium battery, the high-speed electric sedan can drive as fast as 125 kilometers per hour and as far as 250 kilometers continuously, almost matching the quality of a petrol-powered vehicle. Besides, it consumes 15 kilowatts/hour (kWh) of electricity per 100 kilometers, costing as low as one sixth of petrol-powered vehicles of the same type.
Tianjin has created a complete industrial chain, developing electric vehicles, including whole-vehicle production, key spare parts manufacturing and standards setting. The industry draws solid support from China Automotive Technology and Research Center, Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co. Ltd., Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., Tianjin Lishen Joint Stock Co. Ltd., Tianjin University, the No. 18 Research Institute of China Electronics Corporation and many other R&D institutes for electric vehicles. As of 2001, Tianjin has successfully called together the China Automotive Technology and Research Center and Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint Stock Co., Ltd. to jointly establish Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicles Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Electric Vehicles Research Center, bolstering the development of electric vehicles and power battery used on vehicles and other key technologies and products. Upon to now, the center has applied for 36 patents, of which 9 are patents for invention.
In addition, the No 18 Research Institute of China Electronics Corporation has established one of the two testing bases of power battery used on electric vehicles in China, which enjoy full technology support from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Besides, a whole-car testing base of electric vehicles, the only one in China, is established by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, which is located in the Tianjin Binhai New Area. Moreover, 20 State standards for electric vehicles, 6 for hybrid electric vehicles and another 2 for testing methods of hybrid electric vehicles and experiment procedures are formulated and issued.
Since Tianjin was authorized in August, 2002 as one of pilot cities in China for the model usage of electric vehicles, the city has successfully put electric vehicles into operation as taxi, police cars and sedans for official business, with the total driving distance exceeding 100,000 kilometers. Three routes with electric vehicles in operation exclusively have been launched before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
