YUNNAN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yunnan Investment Holdings Group and BYD announced this week intentions to open new energy vehicle manufacturing plants in Yunnan Province, expanding BYD’s EV and new-energy businesses into southwest China and neighboring Asian countries. Yunnan Province, located in far southwest China, has a population of about 50 million, concentrated in about eight large cities, and borders with countries; Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. Currently, the province’s main manufacturing industries are iron and steel production, copper-smelting and commercial vehicle production. However, the province’s vast mineral and metal reserves (some of the largest in China) promise to support almost unlimited growth in manufacturing. Yunnan also boasts an annual water supply of 222 billion cubic meters, more than ten thousand cubic meters of water per person. With projected hydropower reserves greater than 103 GW, over 70% of the electric power supply in Yunnan currently comes from water. This combination of natural resources and readily available electricity make Yunnan Province an ideal location for electrified transportation and new energy vehicle manufacturing.
The BYD-Yunnan cooperation will follow three stages over the coming year. First, the market will be developed with BYD supplying Yunnan Investment Holdings BYD e6 electric taxis to be dispatched in the main cities of Yunnan (including Kunming, Qujin, Zhaotong, Honghe, Dali and Wenshen). Business development will then expand into electrified urban public transportation with BYD’s GreenCity Electric buses (for public transport, tourism shuttles, government and municipal facilities transport). Finally, with a market plan developed and base business established, BYD will work with Yunnan Investment Holding Group to set up a new-energy vehicle manufacturing base to serve all of southwest China and neighboring countries.
BYD Chairman Chuanfu Wang stated, “BYD is the only enterprise who has pure electric buses, pure electric and environmentally-friendly Iron Phosphate (Fe) battery technology in China! BYD has solid experience in the pure electric bus and electric taxi production with the largest all-electric fleets in the world – the Yunnan project will follow the 'Shenzhen model' and best practices forwarding the electrification of public and consumer transportation driving economic and environmental recovery for Yunnan and the surrounding regions.” Yunnan Authorities stated, “Yunnan is located in high-plateau area in China which makes gasoline car consumption 10% less efficient compared to lower altitudes -- that’s why it is so urgent to develop electric vehicles.” The Yunnan capital city of Kunming is also one of the 25 National new energy vehicle development pilot cities in China and has already announced a series of incentive policies to support the development of a new energy vehicle market. For more information, visit BYD at www.facebook.com/bydcompany and www.byd.com.
About BYD
BYD is ranked #1 at the top of Bloomberg’s and BusinessWeek's 2009 Tech 100 List (http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100520006751/en/BYD-Tops-Bloomberg-Businessweek%E2%80%99s-12th-Annual-Tech) and is the leading manufacturer of advanced, environmentally-friendly battery technologies like the BYD’s Iron Phosphate battery used in BYD electric vehicles and electric buses. BYD’s solar panels and LED Lighting systems have CEC, TUV/CE and UL listings, and the company enjoys rapid growth in consumer electronics space and electrified transportation sector manufacturing under its BYD brand. BYD is the fastest-growing Chinese automotive and green energy technology enterprise. The Company trades on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKE) under the ticker numbers (HK.0285 – BYD Electronics) and (HK.1211 – BYD Company Ltd.), as well as on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under the ticker number (002594 - BYD Company Ltd.). For more information, visit www.byd.com, www.facebook.com/bydcompany or email pr@byd.com.
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