Ordos new energy trio becomes export highlight

In the first half of the year, Ordos' exports of the "three new products" reached 1.77 billion yuan ($244.61 million), an increase of 87.4 percent year over year.

These exports accounted for 93.2 percent of the region's total exports of similar products and 32.8 percent of Ordos' total import and export value for the same period.

The "three new products" – new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells – have significantly driven Ordos' foreign trade growth. With the push towards low-carbon and zero-carbon manufacturing setting new standards for the industry, Ordos is utilizing its green energy advantages to lead in this sector.

In recent years, Ordos has advanced the full industrial chain development of new energy equipment manufacturing, which encompasses wind, solar, hydrogen, hydrogen storage technology, and vehicles.

Building on its unique position as the region's sole passenger car production base, Ordos has attracted major companies such as Chery, Xiamen King Long, and Forthing, along with over 150 supporting enterprises. This has led to the establishment of a comprehensive automotive industry chain covering power batteries, electric motors, electronic controls, sales, maintenance, and recycling.

Ordos currently boasts an annual production capacity of 20,000 new energy passenger cars, 21,000 new energy heavy mining trucks, 10.5GW of power batteries, 11,000 hydrogen fuel cell systems, and 5,000 fuel cell stacks.

To ensure the reliability and measurement standards of new energy products, Ordos recently launched the region's first new energy testing center, which received a total investment of 1.25 billion yuan.

The project's first phase, which focuses on testing power batteries and components for new energy vehicles, is already operational. The second phase will establish a comprehensive national-level testing base for new energy equipment, creating a five-in-one system encompassing certification, verification, testing, measurement, and standards for the intelligent and connected vehicle sector.

Ordos is accelerating the development of new energy vehicles in terms of electrification, connectivity, and intelligence. The city has been selected for several national pilot projects, including the Shanghai fuel cell vehicle demonstration cluster, the first batch of pilot cities for full electrification of public sector vehicles, and the national intelligent and connected "vehicle-road-cloud integration" application pilot.

The city has also established the Peking University Ordos Energy Research Institute and partnered with Tsinghua University to create the Ordos laboratory. These initiatives, led by academicians such as Jin Zhijun and Ouyang Minggao, aim to conduct research and industrial demonstration projects in the new energy field.