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)