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With two sources of power working together a
combustion engine and an electric motor powered by a battery Hybrid
Electric Vehicles (HEV) have excellent energy efficiency, and are perfect
for modern motorists in a resource-scare world.
Proudly standing next to his company's
prototype EQ7200, Fu Jun, deputy general manager of Wuhan-based Dongfeng
Electric Vehicle Co Ltd, said he believes this is the future.
Along with a hybrid electric bus the EQ6100
the car was on display at the Exhibition of Science and Technology
Achievements during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), which concluded
yesterday in Beijing.
"We are optimistic because we are convinced
that HEVs, with much higher energy efficiency and less emissions,
personify an inevitable trend in the auto industry," said Fu.
The EQ7200 can reach a top speed of more than
160 kilometers per hour while consuming 30 percent less petrol than a
normal car of the same size.
Six EQ6100 buses have been on trial operation
on a passenger route in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province,
for two years.
Fu said his company is going to prepare buses
for full commercial use by the end of this year. The first clients are
likely to be city public transport authorities and government
departments.
Dongfeng Motor Corporation, the parent
company of Dongfeng Electric, won a competition in 2001 run by the 863
Program the nation's high-tech research and development project to take on
the challenge of developing China's first generation of hybrid
vehicles.
Fu said his company holds the patents for the
two HEVs, with some of the spare parts co-developed with foreign
enterprises.
Despite his confidence in the potential of
the two HEVs, Fu is only "cautiously optimistic."
Protecting the environment comes at a price
an HEV is usually about 30 percent more expensive than a conventional
equivalent. Also, it is unclear to what extent the government will support
the industry with favorable policies.
China's expertise in making spare parts for
HEVs is relatively underdeveloped.
"In spite of this, we are firmly committed to
the undertaking because we believe an excellent enterprise must have
vision and take corporate social responsibility," Fu said.
"Now Japan's Toyota and Honda have taken the
lead in making hybrid cars, which is an impetus for us."
Fu believes HEVs with combustion engines have
the greatest potential for industrialization in the near future as they
would not require much of an overhaul of the infrastructure of the
traditional auto industry.
Xu Xingyi, president of Shanghai Powermax
Technology Inc, which specializes in producing electric motors for hybrid
and electric vehicles, forecast a series of obstacles for China's pioneers
to overcome.
"The biggest bottleneck might be the overall
backwardness of China's automobile industry," Xu said.
China lags behind in some of the key
technological fields that produce materials for vehicles, according to
Xu.
For instance, China has not mastered the
power electronic module, an essential part of electric motors in hybrid
vehicles. Also, domestic-made silicon sheet steel is generally inferior to
that made by foreign companies.
"But as long as we have determination, we can
make it and make rapid progress," Xu said.
"We must develop our own technology through
innovation instead of depending on foreign suppliers, and fortunately, our
nation has realized this in recent years."
As an entrepreneur, Xu has experienced the
nation's growing fascination with innovation first hand.
Xu said that at the beginning of the Electric
Vehicles Project under the 863 Program, many domestic automakers chose to
buy foreign parts when domestic products failed to reach the required
standard, leaving no room for the home enterprises to
develop.
But in recent years, Xu's company has
received more and more orders from Chinese firms or been invited to join
projects to develop specific parts.
Xu suggests the government be more patient
and invest more in the basic sectors of the industrial chain, such as
parts and materials, as well as focusing on the production of complete
vehicles.
"We are very happy with the new atmosphere of
innovation encouraged by our country," Xu declared.
The Exhibition of Science and Technology
Achievements, which showcased some of China's latest scientific
breakthroughs, demonstrated the nation's drive for innovation and
resolution to try to realize an energy-efficient society.
"The traditional auto industry, which has
been powered by fossil energy for more than 100 years, is certain to be
replaced by a brand-new one powered by clean and renewable energy," said
Xu Jing, deputy director of the Department of High-tech Development &
Industrialization of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Xu believes the shift is both necessary and
urgent. Even though China is still at the threshold of becoming an auto
society, with consumption of oil for automobiles accounting for less than
one third of the total, the country has become aware of the great pressure
exerted by the increasingly tightening global oil supply.
"The worldwide shortage of oil and worsening
pollution have left us with little time and the next two decades will be a
strategic period for China to shift the energy supply structure in the
transport sector."
Per Carstedt, chairman of the Swedish-based
BioAlcohol Fuel Foundation, pointed out that China has been presented with
a golden opportunity to become the world leader of the auto industry of
the future thanks, paradoxically, to its present backwardness in
traditional auto manufacturing.
"As you are just at the beginning, it is
easier for you to bypass the old auto industry and go right to the new
technology," Carstedt said.
"In contrast, the traditional automakers,
like the United States or Europe, have been deeply stuck in the old
structure and will have to pay much higher costs to make the
shift."
Xu hopes an energy-efficient car project will
be included in the National Medium & Long-term Science and Technology
Development Plan (2006-20).
"We need a clearer national roadmap in the
field," Xu said.
Most developed countries have such plans in
place and have pumped enormous amounts of money into the development of
energy-efficient vehicles.
The United States has a "Freedom Car" program
to develop fuel cell vehicles and Japan is regarded as the world's best
HEV maker.
"Our goal is to gradually reduce dependence
on oil and pursue a diversified energy supply," Xu said.
"That is why we also develop fuel
cell-powered vehicles, which may be the ultimate replacement for today's
combustion engine vehicles."
A domestic-made fuel cell-powered vehicle,
the Exceed III, developed by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation
and Tongji University, was also unveiled at the Exhibition of Science and
Technology Achievements.
Its top speed is 110 kilometers per hour and
it has a range of 219 kilometers before needing to be
refueled.
By feeding hydrogen into a fuel cell stack
where it is combined with oxygen from the air, the car generates
electricity from the chemical reaction between the two
elements.
The car is totally clean as the process does
not burn anything and water is the only emission.
During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), the
nation has invested more than 1 billion yuan (US$123 million) in the
research and promotion of energy-efficient cars.
The hybrid vehicles project started in 2001
and the Clean Car Campaign, focusing on alternative fuel vehicles,
including compressed natural gas, liquid petroleum gas, methanol, ethanol
and biodiesel started in 1999.
Statistics show China has 215,000 vehicles
powered by compressed natural gas and liquid petroleum gas on the road and
712 filling stations, replacing 1.3 million tons of petrol every
year. | 
