5000 New-energy Buses to Run in Beijing in 2012

By 2012, Beijing will have 5,000 new energy-powered buses running on the streets, said Yang Weiguang, vice director at the Beijing Science and Technology Committee yesterday. The Beijing Public Transport Holdings will buy 450 hybrid buses from Chinese carmaker Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 600166) in 2009 in terms of a purchasing contract signed by the two parties. Price of the hybrid bus is expected to be above CNY 1 million each. An executive from Beiqi Foton Motor says that they are flooded with orders for electric and hybrid cars. Beijing will have 100 electric and 870 hybrid buses and 30 sanitation vehicles by the end of this year. The new-energy cars refer to the automobiles that are driven by fuel-battery, hybrid power, hydrogen, and solar energy, and other energy except gasoline and diesel oil. While their production cost on average is 30% higher than that of traditional autos, but they are the future. (June 17, 2009)