Electric motors are essential components of mechanical equipment. China’s motor industry made substantial progress over more than 40 years, with particularly rapid development during the two decades following reform and opening up.
Analysts note that motor products cover a wide range of types and applications, differentiated by model, specification, power, shaft extension, insulation, encoder, speed switch, thermal elements and heaters. Motors are widely used in machine tools, rolling mills, blowers, printers, pumps, oil pumping units, cranes, conveyors, production lines and lifts, as well as medical equipment such as ECG, X-ray and CT machines, dental instruments, dialysis machines, ventilators and powered wheelchairs.
Positive expectations for China’s new-energy vehicle market have driven rapid growth in traction motors. Hybrid buses were a major domestic electric bus product, while pure-electric buses required higher-power motor systems supplied by relatively few manufacturers.
Against a global effort to reduce energy consumption, efficient motors became a shared priority. China introduced policies for motor-system energy savings, accelerating the retirement of inefficient motors and equipment after 2008. In 2009, efficient and ultra-efficient motors were included in a public-benefit programme. The industry ministry published lists of obsolete, high-energy equipment in 2009 and 2012. The original report recorded new-energy vehicle growth of 59.58% in 2011 and, under the 2012–2020 development plan, projected 500,000 vehicles by 2020, contributing to traction-motor demand.
Motors are used throughout the modern world, wherever controlled motion is needed. Control chips and drive technology play increasingly important roles in high-performance motor systems. Analysis of China’s machinery and end-user markets includes servo drives, servo motors, inverters, induction motors, motion controllers and numerical control applications.
The report concludes that rapid development in new energy has driven growth in the motor industry, with broad prospects for China’s motor sector.