Powering New Energy Vehicles in China

Though there have been several steps in recent times to promote the use of new energy vehicles in China, they have always run into rough weather due to the inadequate charging infrastructure for electric batteries.
 
The high cost of setting up a nationwide charging station network has often prompted manufacturers to look at other ways to increase the life of the batteries.
 
But one Chinese company seems to have stolen a march over the others in the race to make new energy batteries.
 
Chaowei Power Co, a leading lead-acid battery producer in Changxing, East China's Zhejiang province, says it has developed a new range of batteries that are lighter, safer and can store more energy, compared to traditional lead-acid batteries. The new energy flagship products, as the company calls them, are ideally suited for high-end electric vehicles as they can store 10 percent more electricity than other models and retain 20 percent more energy than conventional storage batteries.
 
"The new battery has been developed entirely in our research & development facilities and fits with our goal of not imitating others," says Yang Xinxin, president, Chaowei Power.
 
Changxing accounts for over 45 percent of the lead-acid battery production in China, and has predominantly been the major battery supplier for electric bicycles.
 
But with the technological breakthroughs achieved by companies like Chaowei, the city now looks poised to make bigger strides with batteries for electric cars.
 
"Although the electric bicycle industry still has great potential, it is limited to the emerging markets like China, India and Brazil. Electric cars, on the other hand, are used on a larger scale and gives us a much bigger market," says Yang.
 
Set up in 1998, Chaowei has always used technology as its cutting edge to stand apart from peers in battery manufacturing. Much of that focus also came from the technological background of its founders Yang Xinxin and Zhou Mingming.
 
Yang and Zhou are brothers and have academic achievements in engineering, while their father is a renowned physical chemistry professor.
 
"The battery industry has a low threshold and the biggest challenge for us was to make better lead-acid batteries that could be used in more sectors," Yang says.
 
"Better understanding of technology has been our biggest advantage, and we are going to use it to the fullest of our abilities," he says.
 
According to Yang, the company intends to become the leading supplier of new energy automotive storage batteries and has already applied for 17 patents in better battery technologies for electric vehicles in 2011.
 
"The electric bicycle has been a significant invention in recent times as it is a vehicle that is perfectly suitable for China," says Yang, adding that lead-acid battery will continue to rule the roost.


"Many people consider lead-acid batteries to be not environment-friendly. The industry still lacks self-discipline, and we are hoping that we can be the role model for others in standard production, manufacturing and technology innovation," he says.
 
Chaowei was the first lead-acid battery company in Changxing to apply environmental protection technologies during production.
 
"When we first applied the methods, many people were astonished, and some even considered us foolish, as the technologies were very expensive. Remember that it was a time when many were not even aware of pollution or even lead pollution," says Yang.
 
Though many of his detractors expected Chaowei to go under due to the increased expenditure, it not only survived but was also one of the few survivors of the 2005 pollution crisis that rocked the battery sector.
 
"Chaowei's technology for pollution prevention has always been ahead of others. Its self-developed system of collecting acid pollutants has been adopted by the entire industry in China, and some foreign companies like Hoppecke Power in Germany," says Yao Lingchun, deputy secretary-general of the China Refractory Industry Association.
 
According to Yao, Chaowei is also one of the few Chinese lead-acid battery companies that can match up to the strict environmental standards launched by the European Union.
 
Most of the battery companies in Changxing area are currently relocating their production to other regions and have shuttered production since May 2011 in line with government orders. For Chaowei, the only working departments in Changxing are the charging and assembly sections.
 
In spite of this, the company has seen its annual sales grow by 30.4 percent year-on-year to more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion, 1.2 billion euros).
 
"We were not too worried about relocating the manufacturing facilities as it was something that we had already factored. We have already set up manufacturing facilities outside Changxing and that is why we are still in business," says Yang.
 
Such is the company's commitment to recycling that is not uncommon to see rows and rows of batteries in the company's charging department attached to small vacuum glass bottles, to collect the wasted acid fluids.
 
"I have been working as a battery charging worker for over 12 years now. In most of the other factories that I have worked in, it is not uncommon to feel soreness in the eyes and smell acid in the air," says Jin Chaofeng, a worker in the factory.
 
In contrast, the Chaowei facility resembles a clean and light industry facility. "The working environment has improved so much," Jin says.
 
According to the government's Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan, China will become the largest selling market for new energy vehicles by 2020, and pure electric vehicles are expected to be the mainstay. Yang remains confident that it is companies like Chaowei which will lead the battery race for electric vehicles.