Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi Corp will build a battery-electric vehicle (EV) factory in Beijing. This factory will produce 300,000 EV vehicles every year.
The government-backed economic development agency Beijing E-Town said via its official WeChat account that the plant would be built in two phases.
Xiaomi will also establish an auto unit headquarters, sales and research office in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
Beijing E-Town said it anticipated the factory would reach mass production in 2024. This was also announced by Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun in October.
In March, Xiaomi said it would commit to investing $10 billion in its new electric car division over 10 years. The company completed the registration of its EV unit business at the end of last August.
Xiaomi has also opened thousands of stores to spur growth in domestic sales of its smartphone business, but ultimately intends to use these stores as a conduit for its plans to sell electric vehicles.
As is known, China is eyeing the electric vehicle industry or EV. This industry is one part of reducing emissions and becoming carbon neutral by 2060.
For several years, the Chinese government has supported EV development through subsidies and other favorable policies. Government support led to tens of thousands of companies entering the industry, although many never produced a single car.
About 1.1 million electric vehicles were sold in the first half of this year, nearly as many as were sold in 2020, according to data from market research firm Canalys. China is now the largest electric vehicle market in the world.
That growth has attracted many new players with tech backgrounds. Xiaomi and search company Baidu teamed up with carmaker Geely to become one of the players in the EV industry.
(tfa/roy)
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