(Yicai Global) Aug. 30 -- Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery, which makes public transport infrastructure and vehicles, has opened the first China-backed high-tech plant at a business park in Belarus's capital Minsk as it looks to expand its horizons in Europe and Asia.

The supercapacitor factory has entered operations at China-Belarus Industrial Park, also known as Greatstone, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The facility will make and test supercapacitors while also offering vehicle installations and aftersales services.

Supercapacitors hold the potential to be the future of the world's growing electric vehicle market, but the technology is not quite up to par with lithium-ion yet. Though they can charge in a matter of minutes, supercaps are not energy dense enough to compete with li-ion cells and can only power cars, or buses, over short trips. They can also be used for regenerative braking and other short-term energy storage applications.

Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery has already penned a more than USD10 million deal with local automaker Belkommunmash to supply 100 city buses with supercaps, its Chairman Xiao Guanghui told Xinhua. He also revealed that the firm plans to use Minsk as a hub to expand throughout the European and Asian markets where new-energy vehicles are moving to the forefront of urban transport.

Chinese and Belarusian governments agreed to set up the Greatstone park in 2011, and it now stands at a pivotal spot on the route of the Belt and Road Initiative -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's grand plans for a massive trade and infrastructure route spanning multiple continents by roads, rails, pipes and seas.

The busmaker was among the first Chinese firms to move into the park in May 2015, and the area is now home to 37. Those include the world's largest telecoms equipment maker Huawei, its domestic underdog ZTE and China National Petroleum.

Editor: James Boynton