Dongfeng Automobile to test electric truck

Dongfeng Automobile Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Corporation, a leading car group in China, conducted trial operations of its first electric light-duty trucks in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province, on May 6, 2008. The electric light truck, which is designed, manufactured and assembled all by the listed company, is powered by a set of storage cells and weighs one ton. It takes five hours for each charge. The cell can be used for more than one year and the car has a driving radius of 100-150 kilometers per charge. The truck is designed to reach the maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour (km/h) and normally runs at 40 km/h to 50 km/h in the urban area. The first two cars in trial operation will be used by express service supplier TNT. The R&D cost of the car is 300,000 RMB (US$42,900) per unit and can drop to around 200,000 RMB (US$28,608) when in mass production. Besides the electric car, the listed company has developed hydrogen-powered cars, electric concept sedans and hybrid buses. The hybrid buses have been put into commercial operation in Wuhan. (May 12, 2008)