Foton Zhilan builds light electric truck plant in central China
Foton Zhilan is a subsidiary of the Chinese truck manufacturer BAIC Foton. The company paid 1.61 billion yuan (approximately $ 234 million) to build a 40,000-unit-per-year plant, which is scheduled to launch in April 2020.
Foton's NEV production grew 906.67 percent year-on-year to 302 units in June, while total January-June production increased 140.7 percent to 3,530 units.
China's NEV production rose to 614,000 units in January-June, an increase of 48.5 percent over the same period in 2018, and sales rose 49.6 percent to 617,000, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. units.
Over the past few years, Beijing has been pursuing policies aimed at reducing emissions and saving energy, including, among other measures, reducing the value added tax for manufacturing sectors to 13 percent from 16 percent starting April 1 this year, and offering subsidies for construction of charging stations for electric vehicles to stimulate the use of energy efficient and light vehicles.
Increased production in the automotive sector is expected to support demand for automotive parts and metal raw materials for their production, including aluminum, magnesium and silicon, as well as some materials for batteries such as nickel, manganese, cobalt and lithium.