By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

Tsinghua University officially opened The China Automotive Energy Research Center (CAERC) on April 19. It is China’s first research center of its kind. Tsinghua President Gu Binglin, GM Chairman and CEO Mr. Rick Wagoner, and SAIC Chairman Mr.Hu Maoyuan jointly unveiled the Center.

The Center will focus Tsinghua’s research capabilities to conduct cross-disciplinary research and work extensively with government and other academic institutes. Through implementation of research projects, the Center will carry out in-depth and comprehensive research and analysis of the energy supply chain, energy demand, and other energy issues. The Center’s mission is to create and disseminate knowledge to support economically safe and environmentally friendly automotive energy systems and to provide comprehensive solutions for the transition to sustainable automotive energy systems in China and the rest of the world. The goal of the Center is to build itself into a world class automotive energy systems academic research institute and to become an influential think tank most for the formulation of energy policy and strategy in China. The Center is fully supported by General Motors (GM) and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) who provided $6 million dollars to support it over the next five years.

Tsinghua President Gu extended his congratulations to the directors of the newly built Center, noting  that “In order to address the issue of resource security, sustainable development and climate change in China, Tsinghua has established a laboratory for research into low carbon energy sources and low carbon technologies. CAERC is an important platform for low carbon energy research. It is also one of the fruits of our strategic partnership with GM and SAIC.”

Mr. Wagoner added, “Automotive energy is one of the core energy environmental challenges facing our world today. By working closely with two outstanding partners--Tsinghua University and SAIC-- our goal is to develop a comprehensive and integrated automotive energy strategy that will support China’s future progress towards sustainable transportation. GM looks forward to sharing with the Center and its independent research team our industry leading resources, technology and know how.”

Mr. Wagoner later delivered a speech at the Tsinghua Forum on “The Solution Is Within Your Grasp.”

(Photo by Guo Haijun)