China's first no-pollution battery electric bike greeted the world Monday in Shanghai and is ready for mass production.
The bike, co-developed by the Shanghai Greenlight Electric Bicycle, Int. and the Powerzinc Electric (Shanghai), Int., is equipped with zinc-air battery, a device that generates power by way of transferring air and zinc ions reaction produced chemical energy into electric energy.
Powered by such a fuel battery, the bike emit no waste even after being disposed, realizing a real "zero pollution" state.
With the zinc-air battery, which could provide 0.2 kwh of power per kilogram, a bike could run more than 200 kms continuously, about four to five times that of lead-acid battery ones.
Most electric bikes in China are now fueled by lead-acid batteries containing lead, which will bring about pollution when disposed.
At a time when many regions in China are plagued by choking air pollution and traffic jams, environmentally friendly electric bicycles are a good way out.
Popular as a "promising industry," China produced 400,000 electric bikes in 2001 and expects 900,000 in 2002, with east China as a bright point increasing at 22 percent annually.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2002)
