People will soon enjoy cleaner and more comfortable electric motor vehicles, thanks to the progress of technology.

Moreover, people in Beijing and other big cities will also enjoy better air and bluer skies with the introduction of more electric cars and buses powered by fuel cells.

Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province and Weihai in east China's Shandong Province have been selected as pilot areas to employ a number of electric buses. And several such buses have already run in Wuhan, sources from the Ministry of Science and Technology said.

By 2007, commercialization of such buses should be realized in Beijing and Shanghai, and expanded to 10 other cities by 2015, according to the 21st Century Economic Report.

Scientists have developed technologies for electric cars powered dually by high-performance, low-cost batteries along with a mix of cleaner burning fuels, according to Chen Guangzu, an expert from China Automobile Industry Consulting Committee.

Fuel-cell-powered cars are regarded as main products of clean-energy cars in the future. It is possible to commercialize such cars in the near future, Chen said.

He said China is likely to make big strides towards commercializing electric cars in the next five years.

Pollution beater

The fuel cell energy currently developed in China mainly refers to energy coming from hydrogen. The emission of fuel cell is water vapour and thus gives off no pollution.

The country began to study fuel cells as early as in 1958 when Tianjin Power Institute conducted solid fuel cells studies. Since the 1990s, Dalian Chemistry and Physics Institute in Shandong Province, Shanghai Sulphuric Acid Institute, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University have all achieved progress on developing fuel cells.

To date, the Beijing Passenger Bus Factory, Tsinghua University and Dalian Chemistry and Physics Institute have jointly developed sample passenger buses powered by fuel cells. Shanghai Automobile Group and Shanghai-based Tongji University have jointly developed patented sample cars powered by a mix of cleaner burning fuels.

These have laid a good foundation for introducing clean and environmentally-friendly vehicles during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Such cars produce fewer or even zero emissions when compared to petrol or diesel-powered vehicles. Some will be put into special transport services for the Games.

Development of electric vehicles became a national focus in 1996.

Since then the country has conducted technological exchanges involving such vehicles with the United States, Germany, Japan, France and Italy, to push domestic development of such cars.

The Chinese Government has allocated 900 million yuan (US$108 million) for the next three years to develop electric vehicles.

China, which has to import oil to satisfy its growing demands, also relies on coal to provide 75 per cent of its energy.

To save oil and minimize pollution, great effort developing natural-gas-powered cars during the past few years has been underway.

By last October, 190,000 such vehicles were running in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and another dozen cities, with 560 stations providing fill-ups.

Insiders said compared with other substitute fuels, natural-gas has such advantages as less pollution, higher calorific value and lower costs.

Natural-gas was first used as car fuels in Italy in the 1930s. Relevant statistics indicate that more than 1 million natural-gas-powered motor vehicles are running around the world today.

China has explored 18 big natural-gas fields scattered in 15 provinces or autonomous regions in the past few years. This has provided more convenient conditions for the country to develop natural-gas powered motor vehicles.

Ouyang Minggao, a researcher with Tsinghua University's New Energy Automobile Engineering Center, predicts fuel cell vehicles will run on the road after 2020 when the world will face an oil shortage.

Developed countries such as Japan and the United States have worked out plans for developing multi-energy powered vehicles to replace conventional gasoline-fueled vehicles and help reduce pollution.

The country's long-term scientific blueprint has included hydrogen energy-driven vehicles as an important part.

Beijing has set up a pilot park of hydrogen energy development which is 15 kilometers away from the 2008 Olympic Games Village, said Ouyang.

He said three experimental hydrogen energy-driven vehicles will run next year in Beijing and the Chinese capital is planning to build hydrogen-filling stations.

At least 10 hydrogen energy powered vehicles will go into service in 2008 for the Olympic Games.

China has conducted hydrogen energy development co-operation with the United States and the European Union.

And by 2010-15, Beijing is likely to commercialize hydrogen-energy-powered passenger buses, said Ouyang.

(China Daily October 6, 2004)