Chinese scientists have made a remarkable progress in developing pollution-free electric vehicles, now that the commercialization of such cars has been listed as a key part of the country's science plan for the next decade.

In fact, the first experimental fuel cell-powered car has been developed, laying a good foundation for introducing clean and environmentally-friendly vehicles during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, China Daily has learned from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Such cars produce fewer or even zero emissions when compared to petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles. Some will be put into special transport services for the Games, according to Shao Liqin, an official of the ministry's High-Tech Development and Industrialization Department.

Beijing, Tianjin, and Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province and Weihai in East China's Shandong Province have been selected as pilot areas to employ a number of electric buses. And several such buses run in Wuhan, the department said.

By 2007, commercialization of such buses should be realized in Beijing and Shanghai, and expanded to 10 other cities by 2015, the 21st Century Economic Report said recently.

Air quality from pollution in major cities is a serious problem with care missions a major contributor.

To make the sky bluer and air cleaner in urban areas, the ministry wants Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and another 13 cities to introduce electric cars powered dually by high-performance, low-cost batteries along with a mix of cleaner burning fuels in next two years.

China first said electric vehicles were important in 1996 at an international exhibition on electric and clean-fuel vehicles.

The country conducted technological exchanges involving such vehicles with the United States, Germany, Japan, France and Italy, to push domestic development of such cars.

It also achieved fuel cell development in the 1990s, with Dalian Chemistry and Physics Institute, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and other research institutes.

China, which has to import oil to satisfy its growing demands for energy, relies on coal to provide 75 percent of its energy.

The mineral will continue to be a large part of the country's energy supply, experts say

To save oil and minimize pollution, great effort developing natural-gas powered cars during the past few years has been underway.

By last October, 190,000 such vehicles were running in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and another dozen cities, with 560 stations providing fill-ups.

(China Daily March 22, 2004)