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Chinese auto manufacturers will use more resources to develop commercial vehicles that use alternative fuels such as natural gas, mixed fuel and fuel cells. This is part of the new energy vehicles project, from the High-Tech Research and Development Program of China, or the 863 Plan.

Ouyang Minggao, director of Tsinghua University's Department of Auto Engineering, says commercial vehicles' power technology should innovate step by step. At present, China has 220,000 natural gas vehicles and over 700 gas stations, which help save 1.5 million tons of petrol per year. Ouyang believes hybrid cars will be popular in the near future and those using fuel cells won't be produced on a large scale until 2020.

But alternative fuel commercial vehicles can be developed based on the current platforms of manufacturers, rather than starting from scratch.

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The full text is available in the June Issue of AutoChina.