SMOLEVICHI DISTRICT, 26 November (BelTA) – HESS Great Stone, a subsidiary of the Swiss company Carrosserie HESS AG, is implementing a project to produce electric passenger vehicles in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone. A ceremony to launch the production premises and also to assign it the status of a Great Stone resident company took place on 26 November, BelTA has learned.
A modular assembly system is at the heart of the production technology. This mode of transport does not release carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and moves silently. Rooftop batteries are charged at the final stop within several minutes.
The company plans to operate the full production cycle in 2021. By this time, the facility will manufacture 45-50 bus bodies and also about 40 electric buses in the future. All products will be exported.
Head of the Industrial Park Administration Aleksandr Yaroshenko noted that this is the third company from Switzerland that has registered as a resident company. “The arrival of such iconic projects is very important for the Great Stone. The company operates a truly unique technology to produce body frames of electric vehicles,” Aleksandr Yaroshenko said. “We would like the Swiss partners to share it with us some time in the future," he added.
According to Aleksandr Yaroshenko, the new facility of the Swiss partners will enable Belarus to once again asset itself as a country that produces high-tech and competitive goods.
Asked whether the company will create competition for the domestic manufacturer of electric buses Belkommunmash Aleksandr Yaroshenko replied: "Firstly, technologically these are completely different models. Belkommunmash works with supercapacitors while the new resident focuses on the battery technology. Hess has long-term contracts with Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.I hope that Belkommunmash will follow suit and expand into the European market using our supercapacitor technology.”