””””BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The escalating car craze sweeping China is
bringing in its wake growing interest in electric and other clean-fuel vehicles.
””””With Tuesday's kick-off of a dozen key sci-tech projects, electric vehicles
(EVs) are once again in the limelight.
””””The government will earmark 880 million yuan (106 million US dollars) to
support the EV project, said Wan Gang, a professor of Shanghai-based Tongji
University and leading scientist for the project.
””””The traditional auto sector in China lags twenty to thirty years behind
developed countries, leaving little chance to catch up. However, the
technological and industrialization gap in electric vehicles is relatively
narrow, Wang said.
””””In fact, China initiated its own model EV and concept electric cars in the
mid-1990s, and fuel-cell buses have also debuted in the country.
””””Due to the high cost of batteries, EVs cost two or three times more than
average gasoline-fueled vehicles, a hefty tag that has hindered their production
the world over, said Li Jian, director of the Ministry of Science and
Technology's department of high-tech development and industrialization.
””””China needs to make breakthroughs in improving battery performance
while cutting the cost, to have an advantage in international competition and
boost the nation's automotive industry, he said.
To achieve sustainable development, the necessity of
developing EVs is even more pressing in China, experts say.
””””With the improvements in people's living standards, the number of motor
vehicles traveling the country has skyrocketed. In Beijing, for example, the
annual growth rate of motor vehicles hasranged from ten percent to 15 percent
since the 1990s. There are now 1.73 million motor vehicles in the city, 241
percent more thanin 1990. Of the total, 1.04 million are personal cars.
””””Now that China has entered the World Trade Organization, the rising trend
in auto sales has markedly accelerated. During the first quarter of this year
alone, more than 50,000 vehicles were registered in Beijing, a jump of 36
percent year-on-year. Nationwide, private car buyers accounted for less than ten
percentof the total ten years ago. By 2000, the figure had jumped to 50 percent.
””””Hand-in-glove with the increase in demand for automobiles is China's
fast-increasing consumption of energy and aggravation of pollution.
””””The state environmental protection center predicted that by 2010, 64
percent of air pollution in China would come from vehicleexhaust emissions if
nothing has been done right now to change thesituation.
Most industry insiders share the view that EVs represent
the development direction of the automotive industry. They believe such
battery-powered vehicles with virtually "zero emission" will help curb air
pollution, ease the short supply of energy, and giveimpetus to the development
of the country's automotive industry.
””””In his article on the outlook of China's urban transportation, academician
He Zuoxiu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences listed maglev trains, lithium
battery-powered vehicles and folding bicycles as the three major future
transportation tools.
””””Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua said the EV project should
target at industrialization, be oriented to the market, and lay a sound
technological foundation for commercial production of EVs in five to ten years.
””””China's leading auto producers and elite universities have formed the major
force for EV research and development (R&D). The involvement of the First
Automotive Corp., Dongfeng Motor (Group) Corp., Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp., Qinghua University and Tongji University in the project has resulted in a
total R&D inputof more than 2.5 billion yuan (three million US dollars).
””””The project has also aroused interest from among international auto giants.
Sources said General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford and Volkswagen have all
contacted related R&D teams and domestic auto-makers. Daimler-Chrysler's
vice president and Ford's development manager came to China seeking cooperation.
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