(Yicai Global) July 23 -- BAIC BJEV, China's second-biggest maker of new energy vehicles, has opened a CNY2 billion (USD291 million) NEV innovation center to ensure strong growth in the green auto sector, The Beijing News reported today.

Located at the company's headquarters in Yizhuang, south Beijing, the new test center covers an area of 50,000 square meters. It comprises 88 laboratories and over 400 cutting-edge pieces of equipment that can test vehicles, key systems as well as parts and components, including batteries, motors, electronic controls and intelligent systems.

The center will help lower the firm's costs and raise the brand's value in the face of continued government cuts in green vehicle subsidies, Chairman Xu Heyi said at the opening ceremony.

This is only the first phase of the project. The second will be completed by the end of next June.

The company has long emphasized research and development. Since 2010 it has ploughed more than 10 percent of its revenue into R&D, amounting to CNY5.3 billion from 2010 to the first half of this year. To date, BAIC BJEV has applied for 4,273 patents, some 46 percent of which are inventions.

Set up in 2009, BAIC BJEV is the electric vehicle unit of state-owned carmaker BAIC Motor. In the first half, BJEV's sales rose 21.6 percent year on year to 65,000 vehicles.