Chery, Tianneng to develop electric cars

Chery Automobile, the mainland’s largest carmaker, and Tianneng Power International signed an
agreement at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai to collaborate on
developing electric vehicles (EV) in China. Tianneng Power, the mainland’s largest electric vehicle battery supplier, will develop batteries for Chery New Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chery Automobile. In return, the carmaker will give priority to Tianneng Power’s batteries in its new energy cars. Chery Chief Executive Zeng Lingpeng said the electric version of its best-selling compact car QQ, known as QQEV, will begin mass production shortly and would be rolled out in the first half of this year. Production volume is expected to exceed 10,000 units in 2010. The price of the EV variant has not been set. (March 27, 2010)