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China's auto industry cleans up its act
By Daniel Allen

China's urban atmosphere is the evolution of hybrid technology. Hybrid vehicles burn less fuel by adding one or more electric motors to a standard petrol or diesel engine and can cut pollution by up to 30%. Batteries help power the vehicle, regaining energy during braking and by stationary plug-in recharging.

According to Wan Gang, newly inaugurated Minister of Science and Technology, China's makers of cars, trucks and buses are

set to increasingly focus on hybrid technology. Those companies already involved are forging ahead. "A range of Chinese firms have formed China's first hybrid automobile production base," he said.

At the start of 2006, one automaker already in the hybrid game, Hangzhou-based Geely Automobile Holding Corp, began constructing a hybrid plant in Xiangtan, Hunan province. The company expects to roll its first car off the assembly line this year. Initial annual capacity is projected at 50,000, reaching 100,000 hybrid vehicles by the end of 2010.

Meanwhile, Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co, a joint-venture between Toyota and FAW, began assembling the popular Prius hybrid in Changchun in December 2005. Toyota announced in 2006 that worldwide cumulative sales of the Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, had passed the half-million mark, although disappointing initial sales in China hint at overpricing (a Prius in China retails at nearly $40,000) and an increasingly competitive market.

Other major players are either planning to get into the hybrid game or have production lines already in the works. Chang'an Motor Corp, the Chinese partner of Ford Motor and Suzuki Motor, announced last year that it will begin commercial production of hybrid cars in 2008. The company expects hybrid cars to make up 10% of its own-brand sales annually by 2010.

At the ninth Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in November 2006, Chery showcased the first hybrid car to be developed solely by a Chinese automaker. Chery's A5 ISG, a compact sedan powered by a 1.3 liter four-cylinder engine and an electric motor, is apparently ready to go into mass production this year. Chery has been selected by the Chinese government to export the first major line of Chinese automobiles to North America.

Volkswagen will also start making hybrid cars in China by 2008 with Shanghai Automotive and may kick off large-scale production of energy efficient vehicles by 2010. As a first step, the joint venture intends to make 500 Touran cars to be used as people carriers during next year's Olympics. General Motors (GM) has announced plans to start assembling hybrid cars in China by 2008 at its Shanghai GM plant, a joint venture with Chinese automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC). GM's hybrid system is under development with DaimlerChrysler and BMW.

Push for public transport
While the car market seems set to gather even more momentum in 2008, Beijing is sending out signals that the passionate Chinese love affair with the car needs to be distinctly less amorous. The government's long-term plans lean more to moving the nation's commuters into mass transit - cleaner mass transit.

"Fuel cell vehicles [FCVs] with zero emissions are one of the important technologies for the future development of the automobile industry in China," said Wan Gang in a speech last month. He was speaking at an event to launch a project, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility, as part of China's efforts to accelerate its technical innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Greener public transport will be central to the government's efforts to clear the air. In advance of the Games, Beijing's city managers are replacing thousands of older buses in their municipal transit fleet with more eco-friendly vehicles, some of which will run on clean-burning compressed natural gas.

Beijing Vice Mayor Ji Lin recently told China Daily that there will be 5,000 of the natural gas buses on the city's street by 2008. Already on the streets of Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, is a trial fleet of 20 hybrid-electric buses, designed and manufactured by DFM. FAW Group Corporation is also producing hybrid buses.

In the coastal city of Yantai, Shandong province, a high-capacity electric bus plant is under construction. After a phase-1 capital outlay of 250 million yuan, the factory is expected soon to be fully operational. Annual production capacity is projected at 12,000 units, with gross revenue estimated at 15 billion yuan. Chairman of the China-Rising Motors Tech Zone Company, Xie Rongan, said recently in the China Daily that the new electric buses will be capable of recharging in less-than-30-second intervals at each passenger stop.

China's green-bus manufacturers are also starting to look beyond the domestic market. The Yantai Shuchi Group has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand's Siri Project Construction and PS Natural Gas to produce natural gas vehicles (NGV) in Thailand. The company will invest up to $1 billion, and an initial $53 million investment will fund the production of the first 300 NGVs.

Judging by the dense chemical haze still choking China's cities on an almost daily basis, the sooner fuel-efficient cars, cleaner buses and zero-emission vehicles hit the streets of China, the better. The task of cleaning the air is a daunting prospect, but government and industry seem to be moving in the right direction. As the world’s supply of crude diminishes and oil-addicted nations become increasingly testy about grabbing their share, it may be market forces as much as Olympic pressure, health concerns and public awareness that start to see the smog in China's skies begin to thin.

Daniel Allen is a freelance writer and photographer from London who has lived in China for the past three years.

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