That’s the claim being touted by media of late. However close the call, there’s a lot happening in the electric-car industry in Nanjing’s neighbouring City. From production of batteries to entire vehicles, Changzhou is redefining itself as a global NEV hub.
这是最近媒体大肆宣扬的说法。无论情况如何，南京周边城市的电动汽车行业都在发生很多事情。从电池生产到整车生产，常州正在重新定义自己作为全球新能源汽车中心。
At the BYD factory in Changzhou, a new car rolls off the production line at the rate of one per minute. That’s the ballpark figure today for the speed of the top automotive production lines in the world. For BYD in Changzhou, such speed in productivity is expected to represent an output value in excess of ¥60 billion this year.
在比亚迪常州工厂，一辆新车以每分钟一辆的速度下线。这是当今世界顶级汽车生产线速度的大致数字。对于常州比亚迪来说，这样的产能提升预计今年产值将超过600亿元。
But it wasn’t always like this. Until recently, Changzhou was a rather sleepy place. But it was the solar power industry which was to change that.
但情况并不总是这样。直到最近，常州还是一个相当沉睡的地方。但太阳能行业改变了这一现状。
Changzhou made its first fortune in cotton. Development of the City’s cotton textile industry that began in the 1920s received a boost during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as Shanghai-based businesses began to look elsewhere. As a result, Changzhou saw many cotton mills established in the following decade.
常州最早靠棉花发家。随着上海企业开始将目光投向其他地方，自 1920 年代开始的上海棉纺织业的发展在第二次中日战争期间得到了推动。因此，接下来的十年里，常州出现了许多棉纺厂。
Today, textiles continue to play a big role in the local economy, as do food processing, engineering, horticulture and high-efficiency agriculture. Changzhou was ranked as the ninth best business city in China by Forbes in 2008.
如今，纺织品继续在当地经济中发挥着重要作用，食品加工、工程、园艺和高效农业也是如此。 2008年，常州被《福布斯》评为中国最佳商业城市第九名。
Then there is that solar power. Changzhou has issued 10 policies to promote the construction of that being called the “New Energy Capital”, forming an industry network based on power generation (photovoltaic), energy storage (batteries), transmission (new-energy equipment) and energy application (new-energy vehicles; NEVs) as the key links to a ecological, new-energy closed loop.
然后就是太阳能。常州出台10项政策推动“新能源之都”建设，形成了以发电（光伏）、储能（电池）、输电（新能源装备）、能源应用（新能源汽车）为关键环节的产业网络，形成生态新能源闭环。
From January to May this year, Changzhou’s exports of NEV batteries and photovoltaic cells increased by 30.7 percent, of which lithium-ion battery exports totalled ¥3.18 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 64.2 percent.
今年1-5月，常州新能源汽车电池、光伏电池出口增长30.7%，其中锂离子电池出口总额31.8亿元，同比增长64.2%。
With more than 30,000 components required to produce a NEV, the list of new-energy companies settling in Changzhou is constantly growing; some are well-known giants and others industry rookies. To date, more than 3,400 enterprises in the new-energy automobile industry chain are to be found in Changzhou.
生产一辆新能源汽车所需的零部件超过3万个，落户常州的新能源企业数量不断增加；他们有的是知名巨头，也有的是行业新秀。截至目前，常州已有新能源汽车产业链企业3400多家。
It is planned that by 2025, the scale of the City’s new-energy industry will exceed ¥1 trillion, while a longer term goal is to double that by 2035, reports Xinhuanet.com.
据新华网报道，计划到2025年，全市新能源产业规模将超过1万亿元，更远期目标是到2035年翻一番。
One of Changzhou’s leaders in the industry is CALB (中创新航). They were the ones responsible for the 20 millionth Chinese-made NEV to roll off the production line, equipped with the firm’s pioneering “One-Stop” battery.
中创新航是常州的行业领导者之一。他们负责第 2000 万辆中国制造的新能源汽车下线，并配备了该公司首创的“一站式”电池。
That one car was quite a statement, underscoring Changzhou’s growing significance in the new-energy chain. The parallels with solar power and cotton are obvious; both need a lot of sun to grow.
那一辆车是一个声明，凸显了常州在新能源产业链中日益增长的重要性。太阳能和棉花的相似之处是显而易见的。两者都需要大量的阳光才能生长。
