China establishes national NEV technology innovation center

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China has established a national new energy vehicle (NEV) technology innovation center to boost the development of NEV industry. This is the second national technology innovation center. The other one is for high-speed rail.

The opening ceremony of the center was held in Beijing on Thursday by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Beijing municipal government. The co-developers of the center include a total of 21 China's leading NEV makers and R&D institutions, such as BAIC Group, Geely, BYD, Baidu, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), Tsinghua University and China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), etc.

China aims to make the center into an integrating innovation center collecting cutting-edge NEV technologies with worldwide influence. The center is designed to output advanced technologies, criteria and operational modes which lead the future of NEV industry and recruit creative industrial talents. Meanwhile, the center will be built into a world-class platform to transfer and industrialize its R&D achievements from laboratory. In addition, the innovation center will become a bridge that connects China with other countries to have academic exchange and talent training.

Chen Jining, mayor of Beijing, said that the center plays an important role for China to seize the opportunity and gain absolute advantages in a new round of industrial reform.

China is a world leader in NEV development. In the past 2017, the annual sales and output of NEVs in China reached 777,000 units and 794,000 units respectively, according to the statistics released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).