New subsidiary to focus on manufacturing batteries for China market

NEW YORK - Wanxiang Electric Vehicle Co, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, will partner once again with US-based battery maker Ener1 Inc in an announcement made at the Indiana-Zhejiang Business Symposium in Indianapolis on Monday.

The two will form a subsidiary named the Zhejiang Wanxiang Ener1 Power System Co and will focus on producing batteries for the Chinese market as part of its existing contract with State Grid Corp of China, the largest power supplier in the nation.

Workers in the vehicle battery assembly area of Wanxiang Group's electric automobile division in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Agencies]

It is the second deal between the two companies. In January, Ener1 and Wanxiang partnered to produce 40,000 battery packs a year by 2014. The packs are manufactured at a Wanxiang plant in Hangzhou.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, one of the keynote speakers at the symposium, said the announcement is "an example of one of the many fruitful partnerships between Indiana and China and shows that the Hoosier economy has a global reach".

Zhejiang Party Secretary Zhao Hongzhu, another keynote speaker at the meeting, brought more than 100 officials and business leaders from 12 cities in the province to the symposium.

The symposium brought more than 300 Chinese and US company executives from 170 businesses from the sectors of agriculture, life sciences, vehicles, finance and alternative energy technology.

The aim of the symposium was to forge new business ties between Zhejiang province and Indiana. The Zhejiang-Indiana relationship began 24 years ago when Governor Robert Orr signed a sister-state agreement with officials from Zhejiang.

"The reason why our bond with Indiana is unbreakable is because our people are equally pioneering and enterprising and our governments are equally ready to serve our citizens," Zhao said in a statement.

"Over the past three years, our long-term relationship with China has deepened in meaning. Perhaps most exciting has been the quick growth in business and commerce and of the tremendous understanding between our two nations," Daniels said.

During the meeting, 12 deals were signed between Zhejiang and Indiana worth $364 million.

They include a deal to promote low-voltage electrical products in Indianapolis and an agreement to establish a tire disposal facility in Indiana that has the potential to create hundreds of jobs.

Zhejiang's sister state agreement with Indiana has opened the doors to new Chinese investments in recent years. In February, the Nanshan Group, a company based in Shandong province, announced it will build a $100-million aluminum extrusion manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The new site is slated to open early next year and will employ 150 people in the US by 2013.

Last year, Anji Yuankai Furniture Co, a company that manufactures upholstered furniture in Zhejiang, said it will invest $24.3 million to establish its US headquarters in Marion, Indiana. The company's plan could create 100 US jobs by 2014.