Xinri plans plant to raise output of electric bicycles

Jiangsu Xinri E-Vehicle, the world's largest maker of electric bicycles, will start building a plant in central China next year as it expands capacity to meet the increasing demand for energy-efficient means of transport.

The company, which expects to list shares on the SME board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2011, will double its annual capacity to four million units when the new factory is set up, Gavin Hu, Xinri's deputy general manager, told the South China Morning Post in an interview.

The company is pursuing its aggressive expansion plan despite the fact that, starting with Beijing in the mid-1980s, at least 168 mainland cities, including Tianjin and the capitals of 25 provinces and autonomous regions, had officially banned or restricted the use of motorcycles by the end of 2006, according to figures cited early this year by a leading motorbike manufacturer.

Hu would not reveal where the new plant would be located, but said that the company, based in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, was bullish on the sales outlook because of the increasing awareness shown by the government and consumers of the advantages of the environmentally friendly electric bicycle.

'Electric bicycles are set to change people's daily life,' he said.

'It will be one of the major means of transport for Chinese people as the government emphasises new energy.'