14 Dec 2018

China's Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV) will build a new plant for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in Beijing with a capacity of 120,000 units/yr.

The firm will invest 2.5bn yuan ($362mn) to build the first phase of the project with a capacity of 50,000 units/yr. The entire plant is scheduled to be completed in 27 months. The launch date for the second phase will depend on the progress of the first phase.

The company sold 109,636 NEVs in the first 10 months of this year, up by 76pc from a year earlier. It produced its 300,000th NEV in October.

BJEV has four production bases for NEVs in Beijing, Qingdao, Huanghua and Changzhou. It is a subsidiary of China's major automaker state-owned BAIC.

China is expected to exceed its initial target of producing 1mn electric vehicles in 2018. The country sold 1,030,000 and produced 1,054,000 NEVs during January-November, up by 68pc and 63.6pc, respectively, from a year earlier. China is on target to produce 2mn EVs in 2020.

China's NEV growth is positive compared with the slowdown in the whole automotive industry. Domestic car sales fell in November for a fifth straight month, dipping by 16pc to 2.17mn, according to the China automobile association. November car production fell by 20.5pc to 2.12mn. The association expects China's car production in 2019 to hold steady at the 2018 level of 28mn.

Fast growth in NEV output has boosted production for lithium-ion batteries and raised demand for battery materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite.

Source: https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/1811437-chinas-bjev-to-build-new-ev-plant?backToResults=true