Fengxian mulls smart pivot in electric tricycles

In Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, Fengxian county — the hometown of Liu Bang who founded the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC — AD 24) — is known as China's largest industrial base for electric tricycles.

The number of new energy electric tricycles and supporting enterprises within Fengxian has surpassed 1,000, with an annual production capacity of more than 5 million units and products exported to over 130 countries, said Sun Fenghua, a local expert.

The county not only has more than 60 percent of the domestic electric-tricycle market share, but also takes up over 95 percent of the country's motor market, she said.

As the birthplace of the nation's electric tricycle industry, the growth of Fengxian has had a bumpy ride, growing from scratch and expanding with an industrial cluster after more than 20 years of development.

However, traditional electric tricycle manufacturing still faces such problems as low technological content, low level of intelligence, and low production size and efficiency, becoming obstacles to further development.

Fengxian is now steering the industry toward greener and smarter development, eyeing high-end, intensive and intelligent products and driving new quality productive forces, Sun said.

At the production plant of Jiangsu Zonsen Vehicle Co Ltd — a well-known electric tricycle maker — multiple tricycle frames are lined up and conveyed onto the production line on March 7, with robotic arms on both sides precisely applying paint.

"Our plant has adopted an intelligent vehicle production IoT system, monitoring the entire automated production process. Robotic arms handle all the welding work for the vehicle bodies and frames, while robots have replaced over 70 percent of the labor in the painting workshop, raising production efficiency by more than 40 percent," said Liang Huijian, production chief at the company.

In addition to the intelligent and digital upgrading of production lines, the local industrial base has bolstered the research and development of new products and iterative upgrades, integrating intelligent features such as seamless unlocking, voice interaction and Bluetooth connectivity into new products, focusing on smart mobility.

Within Keya Electromechanical Co Ltd, two recently installed wireless controller production equipment are running smoothly, with wireless controllers continuously coming off the assembly line.

"Our original production capacity of a wired controller production line was only 200 units per hour, but after upgrading to a wireless controller production line, its output has climbed by four times," said Wang Zaifeng, general manager of Keya Electromechanical, noting that a controller with high speed, high efficiency and high reliability can make tricycles have better performance and longer service lives.

However, high-end automatic production equipment needs safer and more stable power supply.

In line with the local enterprises' need, employees from State Grid Xuzhou Power Supply Co regularly visit firms to check the reliability of their power supply, internal safe power management, operation status of substation equipment and electrical wiring of distribution rooms, in a bid to eliminate safety hazards and ensure a stable power supply for all.

In the exhibition hall of Xuzhou Shengxiang Special Vehicle Co Ltd, various kinds of new energy special vehicles, such as fire engines, express vehicles and tour buses, are arranged in order.

Yu Xiaozhong, general manager of the company, said: "This is our newly launched Shengxiang cold chain car series — specially designed for the express logistics and distribution fields such as medicine, fresh food and takeaway."