State-owned China automaker teams with US electric-car startup Atieva

DETROIT (Reuters) -- Among China's biggest state-owned auto makers stated it's started a engineering research center in California's Silicon Valley and is teaming with U.S. electric car startup Atieva to produce EVs for China and global markets.
Beijing Electric-Vehicle Co., a joint venture partner of authorities-owned BAIC Motor Corp., said its new technology facility outside San Fran will concentrate on improvement of EVs and and in the end self-driving vehicles.
BAIC follows still another big state-owned Chinese auto maker, SAIC Motor Corp., which is also setting up a research facility in Silicon Valley and is building electrical and self-driving vehicles.
Atieva is among several start-ups in China as well as the Usa focused on assembling electric automobiles to match those of Tesla Motors Inc.
BAIC's re Search center, which initially will place 20 workers, is situated in Fremont, close to the assembly plant where Tesla constructs the Product S electric-car.
BAIC, which mentioned it'll become Atieva's biggest stockholder, will together develop a power vehicle with its U.S. associate, to be revealed next spring at the Beijing autoshow.
Co-started in 2007 by former Tesla executive Bernard Ts-E, Atieva, located in Menlo Park near Stanford College, is among several startups building electrical automobiles with funds from Chinese traders.
Shanghai-centered NextEV in late August told Reuters that it's building a future Tesla competition, with backing from Chinese web entrepreneurs. NextEV h AS several international research services, including one in Silicon Valley.
A third startup, Faraday Potential, in July stated it's building an electric-car that also could challenge Tesla. FF, as it's called, is located in Gardena, outside La, and is considered financed in part by Chinese technology entrepreneur Jia Yueting.
Both Atieva and Faraday have employed lots of former Tesla workers.
Driven down this yr by low gas costs and plentiful oil supplies, need for pure-electric vehicles in the US and China -- the two biggest global markets -- continues to lag well behind business and government predictions. An estimated 27,000 EVs were sold in China in the first six months, with approximately 29,000 marketed in the U.S.

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09.09.2015
ID:2819

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