On August 15, a delegation led by Xu Wenguang, Member of the Standing Committee of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, went on a field trip to NaaS (NASDAQ: NAAS) Anji Headquarters, in the company of Wu Zhiyong, Member of the Standing Committee of Huzhou Municipal Party Committee, Zhejiang Province and Executive Deputy Mayor of Huzhou City, and Yang Weidong, Member of Standing Committee of Huzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of CPC Anji County Committee. The leaders are warmly received Dai Zhen, Founder and CEO of NewLink and Chairman of NaaS, Wang Yang, Founder and CEO of NaaS, and Li Xiuming, Vice President of NaaS.

Xu Wenguang, Member of the Standing Committee of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province (center), Wu Zhiyong, Member of the Standing Committee of Huzhou Municipal Party Committee, Zhejiang Province and Executive Deputy Mayor of Huzhou City (first on the left) and Yang Weidong, Member of Standing Committee of Huzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of CPC Anji County Committee (first on the right) are going on a field trip to NaaS.

In the NaaS HQ exhibition center, the delegation led by Xu Wenguang built up a picture of the company's development situation and innovation practice. Headquartered in Anji, Huzhou, NaaS is the first local EV charging service provider listed on NASDAQ. It delivers one-stop industry solutions from site selection consulting to software/hardware procurement, EPC engineering, operation & maintenance, energy storage, PV, virtual power plant (VPP) and autonomous charging robots. As of March 31, 2023, NaaS' charging service network had connected 55,000 charging stations and 575,000 chargers. The charging volume in the first quarter was 1.023 billion kWh, representing 21% of the public charging volume in China.

As always, Zhejiang has been taking the lead in China, regarding promoting the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and accelerating the building of charging infrastructure. According to Annual Development Report on Charging and Swapping Infrastructure in Zhejiang Province (2022), by the end of 2022, there were 1.3482 million EVs in Zhejiang, accounting for over 10% of the national total. In the year, Zhejiang’s EV penetration was 35.8%. In terms of charging and swapping infrastructure, Zhejiang set in place 7,224 charging and swapping stations and 83,779 public/dedicated chargers by the end of 2022.

Since earlier this year, Zhejiang has unveiled a package of policies and measures of boosting EV consumption, advancing charging infrastructure building, supporting rural accessibility of EVs, etc., in a bid to meet thriving public demand for EV mobility. On July 24, the General Office of Zhejiang Municipal People's Government issued a notice on Action Plan on Improving High-Quality Charging Infrastructure Network System and Facilitating Rural Accessibility of EVs in Zhejiang Province (2023-2025). The document sets concrete goals: by 2025, Zhejiang will have completed more than 2.3 million chargers, including over 900,000 ones in the countryside, so as to satisfy charging needs of 4 million EVs or more.

In this context, NaaS has hastened technology implementation and innovation in integrated PV-storage-charging, VPP, B&B charging, autonomous charging robots, etc. Taking a crucial move in diversification of energy storage solutions, the company has co-founded a joint venture NewLink Hyper with Hyper Strong, an energy storage system integrator and system service provider. In July, NaaS' VPP passed the capacity test of Shenzhen VPP management platform, China's first grid-ground integrated VPP operation management platform, thus accredited as a Shenzhen VPP load aggregator; and the integrated PV-storage-charging demonstration station in the China Bamboo Expo Park, Anji, China was rated one of major sites for pooling together VPP resources. In order to fuel rural charging infrastructure building and satisfy B&B demand for charging convenience, NaaS and Smart Order, an integrated hotel IT solution provider, established a joint venture--Smart Charging. Making a foray into B&B charging service market, the joint venture is intended for rural vitalization.

In terms of promoting green and low-carbon development in the industry, NaaS has taken multi-pronged measures of "green source", "green station" and "green use" to help reduce carbon emissions in all procedures of charging service. In 2022, NewLink reduced carbon emissions of 1.8477 million tons, 106.22% higher than a year earlier. Recently, NaaS has become China's first new energy charging service provider that has joined “Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)” with ambitious targets: to limit global warning to 1.5℃ together with other world leaders in new energy industry.

Teaming up with top industry chain players, NaaS aspires for expanding its business landscape. On August 2, NAAS reached a strategic partnership with PICC Real Estate, an affiliate of PICC Investment Holding, to create new models for EV charging services through cooperation in integration of charging infrastructure investment, construction and operation, online connectivity and comprehensive insurance. On August 14, NaaS concluded a strategic cooperation with Hyundai Motor Group (China), the world's third largest automaker, whereby NaaS will provide one-stop smart charging service solutions specially designed for Hyundai models. In the future, the parties will also jointly build branded charging stations and bring fresh scenario-based charging experiences, e.g. play-and-charge, to car owners. In the charger operation platform user index rankings released by Chongdian360.cn dated July 2023, NaaS' strategic partner Fleetin topped 150 apps.

Causing a sensation on capital market, NaaS wound up a new round of SPO in May, with Dr. Adrian Cheng, rich third generation of the Cheng Yu-Tung Family of Hong Kong, and CST Group (00985.HK), as its new strategic investors. In July, Wang Yang, Founder and CEO of NaaS was ranked among “Top 40 Chinese Business Elites under 40” by 2023 Fortune.

As an advocate of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, NaaS, a new energy company, engages in structural adjustment, optimization and upgrading in transport energy sector through integration of business development and national/regional development strategy. In later July, NaaS was awarded a 2023H1 “Contributor” taking concrete action and daring to be the first in Huzhou City, for contributing intellectual and strength to seeking regional economic, green, low-carbon and high-quality development and scaling new heights in new energy industry.