A new pollution-free electric car developed by the Huazhong (or Central China) University of Science and Technology (HUST), in central Hubei Province, signals a brighter day for China's energy and environmental problems.
The new electric car can save energy and realize low or even "zero" exhaust discharge, a big step forward for the global problem of over-consumption of petroleum by motor vehicles.
In China, 70 percent of energy consumed in transportation industry is petroleum, 10 percent is various other resources, leaving electric power accounting for only 20 percent.
If China's automobile industry continues to grow at its current rate, the country's petroleum import volume will exceed 100 million tons by the end of 2005, which will intensify energy safe pressure as well as exhaust and noise pollutions.
The driving system of the new car is composed of a switch magnetic-reluct machine and its controller, which are advanced global digital technologies.
The traditional clutch has been abandoned for a wheel box, which makes the speed adjustment automatic. The car also possesses energy recycling and mechanical braking systems, which enable the car to run for a continuous 250 kilometers.
Since the early 1990s, HUST has developed a series of electromotive automobiles, including motorcycles, double-decker buses and street-cleaning vehicles.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2002)
