At the Shanghai Auto Show this week in China, a couple of Chinese automakers are showing off their hydrogen vehicles. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Chery Automotive each have prototype fuel cell car that they have debuted.
SAIC’s fuel cell vehicle is simply called the “Shanghai” and is a sedan being shown off this week among all kinds of other alternative fuel vehicles including biodiesel, hybrid and flex fuel vehicles. In the city of Shanghai, GM has three fuel cell buses running regular routes powered by Ballard fuel cell stacks and in Beijing, DaimlerChrysler has another three fuel cell buses running.
According to a plan by the Shanghai Municipal Government, 100 fuel cell vehicles are scheduled to roll out in 2007. By 2010 for the World Expo, according to the plan, 1,000 fuel cell vehicles are also be on the streets integrated into the regular flow of traffic.
Second only to the United States, China imports more crude oil than any other country. The Chinese government, therefore, has taken steps to help clean up some of the world’s smoggiest cities and reduce dependence on foreign oil by encouraging its own automaker to produce more environmentally friendly automobiles.