The An Peng New Energy Automobile Industry Development Fund was launched on March 22 in Beijing’s Economic-Technological Development Area. [Photo/bda.gov.cn]

China’s first ten billion yuan ($1.5 billion) new energy automobile industry development fund was launched on March 22 in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, dubbed Beijing E-town.

Initiated by BAIC Capital, the investment arm of Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (BAIC Group), the An Peng New Energy Automobile Industry Development Fund is the first investment fund for new energy vehicles with a scale of ten-billion-yuan to be readied for marketing operations.

After the fund is set up, it will make major investments for the whole new energy vehicle chain and its related industries, striving to promote the development of China’s new energy automobiles and to upgrade the auto industry to a higher level featuring electrification, intelligence and information sharing.

The president of BAIC Group, Xu Heyi, said that new energy cars involve a kind of system engineering that combines people, vehicles, roads, the environment and energy. “The market size is expected to reach 10 trillion yuan in the future,” he added.

Xu said that with such a large market size it’s hard for the new energy auto industry to develop by working alone. The new fund integrates industrial capital and financial capital, acting as a lever to raise more money for the industry and make it bigger.

Liang Sheng, director of Beijing E-town’s Administration Committee, said new energy vehicles are E-town’s main focus.

As it becomes a key area in Beijing for China’s science and technology innovation, E-town will concentrate on building itself into a platform for the transformation of major technological achievements in high-grade, precision and advanced industries such as integrated circuitry, energy conservation, environmental protection, environmentally friendly equipment and new energy, Liang said.

According to Liang, the fund can be seen as an effective cooperation platform for the new energy automobile industry, combining capital, technology and related industries.

Liang added that the E-town-based An Peng fund will help to connect China and the rest of the world, driving integrative development between manufacturing of smart car’s core components, vehicle design, research and development, and fostering the new generation of mobile communication and car networking applications.

It lays a solid foundation from which China’s new energy auto industry can keep pace with world leading technology and realize frog-leap development, said Liang.