Zhaoqing: Creating a New Energy Vehicle Industry Cluster

 Zhaoqing: Creating a New Energy Vehicle Industry Cluster

Automotive components and vehicles, due to their precision and complex design, can be called "industrial artworks". Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, is a "industrial art palace" for those who love automotive industry machinery.

From wipers, tires, car lights, to batteries, powertrain, and the entire vehicle, from die-casting machines, mechanical production lines to artisans, it has been perfectly integrated in Zhaoqing, forming a complete automotive industry chain, successfully achieving "one city car making" or even "one city car ordering". Especially with the rise and development of new energy vehicles, Zhaoqing has upgraded from a traditional fuel vehicle parts supply base to a new energy vehicle industry cluster, becoming one of the birthplaces of global new energy vehicle upgrading and innovation.

Witness the fission of industrial upgrading

According to the relevant person in charge of Guangdong Jiali Automobile Lamp Co., Ltd., the company's main product is automobile lamps. Orders from major customers such as BYD, GAC Aian, and GAC Passenger Cars account for about 60% of the company's sales share. In the past three years, the average annual growth rate of orders for Jiali car lights has been 30%, and we expect to maintain this growth rate in the future

The person in charge of Jiali car lights introduced that the current requirements of vehicle customers for the performance and appearance of car lights are constantly improving. Jiali car lights are constantly introducing more configuration units and dimming units to achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase. The person in charge of Jiali car lights introduced that with the continuous expansion of market demand, the company is launching the second phase of the "Automotive Follow up Headlamp System, LED Headlamps" project. Agricultural Bank of China Zhaoqing Branch has provided us with an 8-year fixed asset loan of 90 million yuan. With the support of the Agricultural Bank of China loan, the second phase of the company's project has been completed, and the production equipment is currently being relocated, installed, and debugged

Without leaving the market, we can witness the upgrading and fission of the global new energy vehicle industry chain, "said Zhang Liangyun, Vice President of the Zhaoqing Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. Through recent years of bank cooperation with customers, loan demand, exchange settlement, and other situations, it is clear that China's new energy vehicles are achieving lane switching and overtaking in the global automotive industry. Data shows that as of the end of March 2023, the branch supported 24 upstream and downstream enterprises in the automotive industry chain, with a loan credit balance of 7.084 billion yuan and a loan balance of 2.506 billion yuan.

At the end of 2016, Zhaoqing proposed for the first time to prioritize the development of new energy vehicles as the leading industry and actively layout the new energy vehicle industry. Statistical data shows that in 2022, the total output value of the new energy vehicle and automotive parts industry in Zhaoqing reached 70.57 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.6%, with a growth rate of over 50% for two consecutive years, accounting for approximately 7% of the total output value of the province's automotive manufacturing industry. Currently, Zhaoqing has listed the new energy vehicles and automotive parts industry as one of the leading industries.

Welcoming the "new" has become the norm

Expanding production capacity, transforming and upgrading have become a common trend for enterprises in Zhaoqing to embrace the "new" trend. Guangdong Liyuan Technology Co., Ltd., located in Gaoyao District, Zhaoqing City, is a one-stop service provider for aluminum alloy die-casting. The company is optimistic about the development trend of new energy vehicles, shifting from aluminum alloy components such as wipers and oil pans for traditional fuel vehicles to pressure castings such as new energy motors, electronic control casings, and charging piles. With the help of bank financing, the company has opened Liyuan Second Factory to layout the new energy vehicle industry. Zhaoqing Gaoruo is a national die-casting industry base, which has cultivated a large number of industry technical talents for over 30 years, which is an advantage that we are difficult to replace, "said Feng Yi, Director of Operations of Guangdong Liyuan.

At present, Gaoruo is one of the industry clusters with the most concentrated and advanced die-casting production units in the country, gathering a group of industry leading enterprises such as Guangdong Hongtu, Hongjin Metal, and Hongtai Technology.

In January 2022, Guangdong Hongtu Technology Co., Ltd. and Lijin Technology jointly developed the first domestically produced 6800T ultra large intelligent die-casting unit, which successfully went offline as an integrated body structural component. This is an important breakthrough in achieving domestic independent and controllable large-scale integrated die-casting technology for new energy vehicles. In September of the same year, the 12000 ton ultra large intelligent die-casting unit developed by the company was released, breaking the global record for the largest tonnage of die-casting machines. This ultra large intelligent die-casting unit is equipped with industry-leading high vacuum systems, precise mold temperature control systems, efficient spraying systems, flexible parts taking and post-processing systems, which can achieve fully automatic, intelligent, and unmanned production and manufacturing. It can be used for the production and manufacturing of key lightweight components such as integrated front cabin assemblies, integrated rear floor assemblies, and integrated battery trays for new energy vehicles.

Building a Hundred Billion Industry Cluster

The reporter learned that the use of ultra large intelligent die-casting units can highly integrate multiple separate and dispersed components into integrated die-casting, greatly reducing the number of parts, product weight, manufacturing costs, and equipment footprint, enhancing the competitiveness of the new energy vehicle industry.

According to the relevant person in charge of Gaoyao District, as of the end of 2022, there are over 50 die-casting enterprises in Gaoyao District, with over 10000 employees; The die-casting industry has achieved a total industrial output value of 8.58 billion yuan, a tax revenue of 320 million yuan, and an annual production of 210000 tons of castings.

Coming to Zhaoqing was a coincidence. At that time, we happened to be looking for a factory, and the Zhaoqing Municipal Government invited us to investigate. We found that the nearby mold factories, die-casting factories, aluminum profile enterprises, and other supporting facilities were very complete, so we planned to take root here, "said Li Xianping, Chairman of Hepu Power Co., Ltd.

From elevator permanent magnet synchronous traction machines to powertrain systems for new energy vehicles, Hepu Power's research and development have driven the upgrading of procurement demand in the new energy vehicle market. At the beginning, Hepu Power only focused on electric motors, but the trend of new energy vehicles is towards three in one or even multiple in one powertrain. Li Xianping believes that powertrain plays a crucial role in improving the level of electrification, and its technology and manufacturing level directly affect the performance and cost of the entire vehicle. Therefore, starting from 2018, Hepu Power has invested over 400 million yuan in research and development of powertrain, and mass production will begin in 2021.

Li Xianping introduced that the company has formed a research and development platform suitable for five categories of electric drive products, including pure electric passenger cars, pure electric commercial vehicles, electric engineering vehicles, electric special vehicles, elevators, etc., and has developed more than 260 varieties of electric drive system products for domestic and foreign vehicle enterprises and power system integrators. The company's products sell well throughout the country and are exported to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. BYD, Xiaopeng, Dongfeng Liuqi, Italian Fiat, and others are all customers of our company

Similar enterprises to Hepu Power are everywhere. From being attracted by industrial supporting facilities to attracting more industrial supporting facilities in Zhaoqing, the settlement of leading enterprises such as Xiaopeng Automobile and Ningde Times vividly illustrates the continuous amplification of industrial agglomeration effect in Zhaoqing in recent years.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Zhaoqing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, there are currently 89 enterprises in the new energy vehicle industry cluster in Zhaoqing city, including 85 enterprises in the new energy vehicle industry cluster, and 4 enterprises in the complete vehicle and modified vehicle industry cluster. A preliminary industrial chain of complete vehicle manufacturing+key components such as batteries, motors, electronic control, wires, tires, chassis, lightweight materials, sensors, lighting, etc. has been formed, The development pattern of the entire industrial chain cluster, such as the automotive aftermarket, is accelerating and will move towards industrial clusters with an output value of over 100 billion yuan. Zhaoqing proposed a clear goal: by 2025, the output value of the new energy vehicle and automotive parts industry should reach 200 billion yuan.

Source: Economic Reference Report

Zhaoqing City very much welcomes technology companies and technology giants to start their own businesses in Zhaoqing.The creative atmosphere in Zhaoqing City is very good.

Zhaoqing High-tech Zone Investment Promotion Bureau

Address: 15/F, Fumin Building, Zhaoqing Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Zhaoqing, Guangdong

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Email: zqgxzs@163.com

Sihui City Investment Promotion Center

Contact information

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Zhaoqing Investment Promotion Bureau

Address: 6/F, No. 18, Jiangbin West Road, Duanzhou District, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province

Tel: 0086-758-2899202

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