SAIC Gears Up To Make Clean-Energy Vehicles

By Yang Jian  |   2009-9-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SAIC Motor Corp will begin to produce more than 1,000 vehicles powered by clean energy from next month to serve visitors at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

The vehicles will provide a "zero emissions" Expo and buses will then be used in the city's public transportation network after the 2010 event, a senior official of the auto maker has said.

About 500 vehicles will be used inside the Expo site and for linkage lines, including zero-emission super-capacitor buses, fuel-cell vehicles and electric buses, said Gan Pin, manager of SAIC's new energy automobile department. Another 500 low-emission vehicles, including hybrid buses, will be used in the area surrounding the Expo site.

The super-capacitor buses and electric buses will serve as free shuttle buses for Expo visitors. Buses can change batteries when needed at stations around the Expo site.

An electric bus costs morethan 2 million yuan (US$293,000).