China playing leading role in electrification of car industry, says industry leader

Photo taken on July 6, 2019 shows a production line at a subsidiary of Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. (BJEV), a new energy vehicle producer, in Huanghua city of Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province.(Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

- "If you look at the moving away from petrol and diesel to electrification, all markets in the world are making that at different paces. China was one of the first markets to be and still is in the front," said Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

- "China also makes investments in Britain, especially in terms of research and development, and increasingly that is around electrifications," Hawes said.

LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China, the world's largest new electric vehicle maker and market, is playing a leading role in the electrification of the car industry, a British leader of the auto industry told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"If you look at the moving away from petrol and diesel to electrification, all markets in the world are making that at different paces. China was one of the first markets to be and still is in the front," said Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a leading British automotive trade body.

"Obviously given China is the world's largest new car both in manufacturing and market," he said, "It has that lead role."

Hawes's remarks came after an analysis from his society showed manufacturers have committed 10.8 billion pounds (about 14.2 billion U.S. dollars) in Britain's electric vehicles and batteries since 2011.

"China also makes investments in Britain, especially in terms of research and development, and increasingly that is around electrifications," Hawes said. "It is something that both countries would want to work on because delivering zero-emission mobility is the entire world needs."

Hawes welcomed China's battery manufactory Envision Group partnering with Japanese auto company Nissan to build a "gigafactory" in Sunderland, a port city in England. He said this sets a good example of international cooperation and technology implementation.

Envision AESC, the battery division of Envision Group, announced last October that they got formal planning permission for Britain's first at-scale battery manufacturing plant.

The 9GWh-capacity gigafactory will form part of a 1 billion pounds (about 1.3 billion dollars) partnership with Nissan UK and Sunderland City Council to create an electric vehicle hub.

Hawes also noted that Britain and China have a "good foundation" in cooperation in the car industry, saying "UK is a competitive market. We are seeing increasing Chinese brands coming to Britain's market, and British companies also have been invested in China around production and taking British brands into China."

When talking about the challenges in global car industry cooperation, Hawes said the international relationship is in a difficult situation, but it will be overcome.

"I think from the UK's perspective, what we always want is free and fair trade. We can overcome these problems and as long as know the benefits for both countries and both markets," said Hawes.