A flagship self-designed hybrid bus just drove off the China FAW Group Corporation production line, announcing the start of the industrialization of environmentally friendly buses in China.

"There will be a bright future for the rising hybrid bus in China market," said Ma Songde, vice minister of the Sciences and Technologies, at the off-line ceremony recently.

Listed as a key project of China's "863 program" (a national high-tech plan initiated in March 1986 aiming to enhance the country's overall power) of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the hybrid-bus has drawn the attention of more and more auto makers in China.

Just one week prior to the debut of FAW's hybrid bus, 12 hybrid-electric buses, made by Dongfeng Motor Corporation (DFM), were delivered to the Wuhan Public Transport Group, which will run on Wuhan's 25-km-long special public-bus route, the first of its kind in China.

Toyota, the world's No. 2 car maker in terms of sales, will also debut its Prius hybrid passenger car in Changchun in mid-December this year. The auto giant has sold 500,000 Prius cars worldwide.

Hybrid buses use an additional electric engine besides the traditional fuel, saving 38 percent of oil use and reducing harmful tail gas by 30 percent, said statistics offered by the FAW.

China's top hybrid bus scientist Wang Gang said scaled production of hybrid buses has been listed as a key task of the country in the 11th Five-Year Program from 2006 to 2010.

Wang, also head master of Shanghai-based Tongji University, said by the first half of 2006, China will start scaled production of 3-4 types of hybrid buses.

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the central government will allocate more money in the following years to support hybrid bus research.

The government will also increase investment in fuel-cell vehicles in the next five years and lower costs in producing environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Source: Xinhua