Better Place and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) announced opening their Switchable Electric Car Experience Center in Guangzhou’s Pearl River New Town.
A switchable battery electric car today drove out from the experience center, marking Guangzhou as the starting point for EV network infrastructure in the five Southern provinces served by CSG.
The Switchable Electric Car Experience Center in Guangzhou is the first fully automated battery switch facility in the five provinces of southern China. The Switchable Electric Car Experience Center covers 1,900 square meters, and is an important component of Guangzhou’s efforts to promote new energy vehicles.
In March, CSG and Better Place signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement in Guangzhou to develop EV infrastructure in China. After extensive research, development and planning, CSG announced in July that it would follow a centralized, open, and government-led but enterprise-guided approach in providing energy for EVs. The company’s strategy has battery switch at its core combined with centralized EV charging. CSG will promote the development of national technical standards and build a smart EV network.
CSG has signed EV infrastructure agreements with Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and other provinces. The company has also signed similar cooperative agreements with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning, Haikou, and other cities.
CSG has 14 EV charging stations in its network, with 2,901 charging poles in operation, and 206,000 kWh of usage over 45,000 charge cycles from January to November 2011. During the “12th Five Year” plan period and under the government’s leadership, CSG will localize smart EV network infrastructure for the Chinese market and meet the needs of the five southern provinces to support development of the EV industry.
