RMB400-M smart factory for EVs opened in Gangbei District – Technologist

Less than a year from ground-breaking in December 2020,  Guangxi Luyuan Electric Vehicle Co. has launched its RMB400-million smart factory at the China-ASEAN New Energy Electric Vehicle Production Base in Gangbei District, Guigang City in China’s Guangxi province.

The new manufacturing facility is fitted with advanced pipe processing, welding, and assembly process equipment. It deploys real-time information connectivity and automatic processing in key processes such as frame manufacturing, iron and plastic parts coating, motor manufacturing, and whole motorcycle assembly. Moreover, its production equipment in the workshop is using the Internet of things (IoT) to improve efficiency and reduce labour cost.

When fully operational, the smart factory can  produce an electric motorcycle can be produced in 30 seconds, with a frame accuracy error of less than 0.5 mm. Automatic cutting, bending and welding are realised in frame manufacturing of electric motorcycles, which are monitored with the MES system, so that the accuracy error of finished products is less than 0.5 mm.

It is planned to equip the intelligent factory with 10 automatic production lines for synchronous pre-assembly, five of which have been completed to date.

“We will try our best to cultivate a 100-billion-level new energy electric vehicle industry cluster, and strive to achieve the ‘311’ project target for the electric vehicle industry during the ’14th Five-year Plan’, that is, 30 million electric vehicles (sets of accessories) will be produced every year, to achieve the output value of RMB 100 billion and the tax revenue of RMB 10 billion,” said Huang Yingmei, party secretary of Gangbei District.

The district is capitalising on Guangxi’s proximity to the borders of Vietnam to tap into the burgeoning Southeast Asian market.

In recent years, the Gangbei District in Guigang City, Guangxi, has seized the development opportunity brought by the Belt and Road Initiative, and continued to optimise the business environment, planning to build a 10,000-mu China-ASEAN New Energy Electric Vehicle Production Base.

At present, nearly 100 electric vehicle enterprises have been introduced and more than 50 electric vehicle enterprises have started operation. Guangxi New Energy Electric Vehicle Products Quality Testing Center and Guangxi Electric Vehicle Industry Association have been established successively.

An annual production capacity of 4 million two-wheeled electric motorcycles, 500,000 three-wheeled electric vehicles and 5 million sets of spare parts has been formed, with the local matching rate reaching 80%.

From January to September this year, the industrial output value of enterprises above the designated size in the new energy electric vehicle industry of Gangbei District increased by 37.9% year on year. Key components such as motors and plastic parts are continuously sold to domestic and ASEAN markets.

In addition, Gangbei District also creates “Marshal Travel”, a local shared electric bicycle brand, which has been put into operation, and it plans to put more than 500,000 shared electric bicycles in Guangxi within five years, and expand to the whole country in the future.