China has developed its own electric vehicle engines after more
than a decade's research, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of
Sciences (CAS) announced Saturday.
China has proprietary intellectual property rights for the
asynchronous drive motors and the permanent magnet synchronous
motors for electric vehicles, according to Wen Xuhui, top
researcher of the electric vehicle project of CAS' Institute of
Electrical Engineering.
"Some of the newly-developed motors have been used in electric
vehicles produced by major Chinese automobile manufacturers," Wen
said.
Four electric buses driven by alternating current motors are
being piloted on Beijing's No. 121 bus line ahead of the upcoming
2008 Olympics.
"A dozen or so electric buses will hit the road soon," Wen
said.
Wen said the current motorization systems are principally for
use in buses. "Electric cars have more demanding motor
requirements."
Chinese scientists have worked out technological standards for
the engine systems to guide development of the electric vehicles,
according to Wen.
Scaled production of the environmentally-friendly hybrid
vehicles, including the fuel-cell bus, the hybrid-electric bus and
a bus that runs purely on electricity, has been listed as a key
task in China's 11th Five-Year Program from 2006 to 2010.
Conventional auto fuels commonly used in China are gasoline,
diesel oil, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethanol and
dimethyl ether (DME).
Though great progress has been made in China's hybrid automobile
industry, experts maintain that its level of technology still lags
far behind more advanced international standards.
Experts urged the Chinese government to do more to support the
production of hybrid cars in China.
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2007)