China to build electric automobile R&D base in Tianjin

An electric automobile production base with annual capacity of 20,000 units started production in Tianjin Municipality, a coastal city in northern China, said industry sources.

The electric automobile production base, which is located at Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA) , covers an area of 60,000 sq m. The base is designed to work on R&D and manufacturing of electric automobiles, hybrid vehicles and fuel batteries. The first batch of 456 electric trucks had been exported to the U.S. market, according to the earlier reports.

Industry reports indicate that more than 2,000 units of electric automobiles produced from the new base will be exported to the U.S. and European markets by the end of this year.

Tianjin is one of four municipal cities under the direct governance of the central government of China. According to the report released by the Tianjin Municipal government, the city is now one of China's most important R&D base for electric automobiles.