JAC electric vehicles head across Pacific

A production line at Jianghuai Automobile Co in Hefei, capital of Anhui province. JAC inked in 2012 an agreement with the US-based GreenTech Automotive Corp to bring 2,000 battery-powered electric vehicles to the US market. LIU QINLI/CHINA DAILY

Jianghuai Automobile Co, one of China's 10 largest automakers, will deliver 100 electric vehicles to a leading electric carmaker in the United States on Wednesday.

The vehicles, part of the 2,000 units purchased by the US-based GreenTech Automotive Corp, will be delivered from Hefei, where JAC is located, while the other 1,900 will be shipped from there in the near future.

In 2012, GreenTech inked an agreement with JAC to bring 2,000 battery-powered electric vehicles to the US market. After more than one and a half years of research and development, the Chinese automaker formally reached an agreement with its partner in August to export the vehicles to the US.

She Cairong, deputy general manager of JAC, said the EV has "upgraded driver modules, improved battery capacity, and range and performance improvements for speed, climbing and stability". The battery enables the car to run for about 160 kilometers, he said.

Charles Wang, chairman and CEO of GreenTech, said: "We believe that the well-recognized high quality of JAC vehicles will win trust and recognition from the American consumers."

The company "has renewed an integral growth strategy - partnership with Chinese automakers", according to AutoblogGreen, an American website that covers all environmentally friendly car news.

With 50 years of experience in making vehicles such as light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, sedans, buses and more, JAC produced nearly 500,000 vehicles and more than 220,000 engines in 2013.

The automaker, which has sold more than 6,000 electric vehicles in China so far, has a domestic market share of more than 20 percent, while sales of EVs are expected to climb more rapidly in the future, as China is encouraging the use of such vehicles to cut emissions.

The State Council, China's cabinet, has called on the domestic auto industry to achieve production and sales targets of 500,000 pure-electric (battery-powered) and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015 and 10 times that number by the end of the next decade.

Wan Gang, minister of science and technology, said during the Sixth Round of US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing that China attaches much importance to electric vehicles and expects them to play an important role in curbing air pollution, as they are more energy-efficient and have lower emissions.

China and the US have both seen rapid growth of electric vehicle sales, with about 78,000 and 100,000 units, respectively, in use. The US has more individual buyers, while in China more electric cars are bought by urban bus and taxi companies.

Development of electric vehicles in China and the US was one of the topics for the dialogue held in July. Cooperation between the two partners on electric vehicles is expected to be strengthened in the near future, said company officials.