On Dec.7, in the meeting of Reviewing Works in 2010 and Making Plans in 2011, Mr. Lu Yang, Mr. Lao Zhixing and Mr. Zhang Lichun made the exchanges with the staff representatives on the tasks this year and plans next year
    In the meeting, Mr. Zhang Lichun introduced the main works in 2010 as follows: punctual delivery of new energy buses with high quality and service security task for new energy buses during Expo period. And in 2010, the company suffered with five difficult phases. The first phase was to develop and produce new energy buses. The second phase was to connected new energy buses with charging stations. The third phase was to ensure the dispatching rate of the electric buses. The forth phase was to provide service security for super capacitor buses. And the fifth phase was to take on the large passenger flow tests. By achieving the task well, Sunwin made a satisfied answer. With the efforts of employees, the company received the challenges, overcame the difficulties and finally completed the performance target.
    Meanwhile, Mr. Zhang Lichun made the work plans and arrangement next year in line with the overall operation idea and key tasks. Looking to next year, the task for Sunwin will be more arduous, and all the staff in Sunwin shall make great efforts to fulfill the operation target in 2011 with the Expo spirit to provide not only a good beginning for Twelfth-five year Plan but a solid base for Sunwin’s further development. And Mr. Zhang required every department to conclude its works this year and make plans next year.
   

Some Expo tourists dialed the “Summer Hotline” of this newspaper, saying that with over 150 new energy vehicles running through the Expo Site, there is no frustrating gas smell and little noise.
Thanks to the on-going Expo that offers a stage for practical operations of the new energy vehicles, with the experience thereby concluded to benefit the development of low-carbon transportation in the future.
    
The Low-Carbon Bus is “Very Clean”
Hong Renchu, President and General Manager of Shanghai Bus Public Transportation (Group) Co., Ltd. indicates that in the Expo Site, there is a fleet of the low-carbon buses that are of the state-of-the-art technologies nationwide and are a concentrated display of the latest development achievement in the field of new energy vehicles in China.
Deemed to be the world’s largest scale of exemplary operations of new energy vehicles, a fleet of over 1,000 new energy vehicles will be running in the Expo Site and around the pavilions, which will include 120 pure electric capacity buses, 36 super-capacitor buses and 6 hydrogen-powered buses.

According to Hong Renchu, it was forecasted that the rail transit and buses would each carry forty percent of the Expo visitors, with the remaining twenty percent to be ferried. However, statistical data suggest that as the Expo calendar has gone by half, the buses have been carrying over 75% of the passenger flow. “The effects greatly exceed our expectation,” said Hong.
There are over 16,000 buses involved in the operations of the bus system in Shanghai, with a daily average passenger flow exceeding 7 million. In contrast, the low-carbon buses running through the Expo Site carry about 0.9 million passenger maximum per day. “The Expo Site utilizes 1% of the bus fleet available in Shanghai to carry 10% passenger flow in this cosmopolitan city,” said Hong Renchu.
Mr. Liu, a Shanghai citizen, has visited the Expo Site for over a dozen times. Each time he basically travelled by bus in the Expo Site. On taking the low-carbon bus, Liu said, ”It’s very clean. There is no pollution and little noise.”
    
Look forward to a Cell Technology Revolution

■The electric buses running through the Expo Site have their advantages and disadvantages as well.

The super-capacitor buses are noted for swift charging. But they have limited capacity, and what is worse, up to 25% energy is converted into heat energy in the course of charging, causing a waste of energy. Hong Renchu said that the super-capacitor vehicles have a relatively lower cost if observed from the perspective of the current services.
The super-capacitor vehicles are used to run the Expo Boulevard Line. The buses of such type had once been put into passenger-carrying operations of Line 11. This time, the continued driving distance was extended to 4 kilometers through technical upgrading. Originally, the bus would have to raise up its plait to charge for one minute every time it stops by a bus stop. And now, they can afford a distance of two to three stops before getting charged.
The pure electric capacity buses are noted for considerably large capacity. But it takes longer time to get them charged, due to which they can hardly meet the demands for continuous operations.
    ■The pure electric capacity buses are used on both the Cross-River Line and GuoZhan Line.
When the cell reaches its minimum quantity level, the driver will drive the bus to the charging room for charging. The charging station is equipped with a total of 120 sets of back-up batteries, enough to meet the prompt demand for cell replacement. It takes more than 2 hours to charge a battery and a fully charged battery will drive the bus for about 80 kilometers.
“There still is room for improvement of these two kinds of technologies and we look forward to a cell revolution,” said Hong Renchu. The low-carbon buses running in the Expo Site offer supports in terms of both technology and data to the low-carbon buses in the future. The future low-carbon buses will be running with better quality and improved reliability. “But it still takes time for the new energy bus to get developed. It took 10 years for the earlier gas engine to be upgraded to the diesel engine. In comparison, it will certainly take time for new energy to get upgraded.”
He also points out that the development trend of low-carbon bus is represented by the hybrid vehicles, which are noted for such advantages as higher fuel efficiency and more environmental friendliness. For instance, there is no more black smoke emitted when starting up a vehicle and lower fuel consumption is required for engine idling.

Of the three lines, Line 11 has already been updated completely with the super-capacitor buses, with the Expo buses to be accepted for supplementary service capabilities. The stops along the route of Line 26 had been completed with the installation of charging supports even prior to the Expo, so that the buses may run the route directly as soon as they are put into this line. With regards to Line 931, given the considerable length of this line and other factors involving the installation of charging supports etc., how to use the super-capacitor buses on this line remains to be an open issue. Another type of pure fuel cell buses may be put into operation on Line 20, the trolley bus line boasting the longest history in Shanghai.
 
——Excerpts from the Labor News  September 7, 2010

Several Months’ Field Test to be Carried Out and Delivery Upon Successful Completion of Test to Drive Along the Bus Lines Run by Kowloon Motor Bus

The energy-saving and environmentally-friendly “Made in Shanghai” super-capacitor buses will hopefully be put into the bus operations in Hong Kong. The journalist learnt yesterday from the Bus Group that the first super-capacitor bus had recently been sent out through the Customs to Hong Kong for field test at Kowloon Bus, which would last for a couple of months. Upon successful completion of the test, the buses of such type will be recommended for extensive services along the bus lines run by Kowloon Motor Bus.

To remove those trolley bus cables that densely crossed through overhead like spider web, which appeared to be a negative side of the urban appearance of Shanghai, the self-dominant R&D focusing on the technologies of the super-capacitor vehicles began in 2002, with a trial passenger-carrying operation along a trolley bus route carried out on December 18, 2002. In August, 2006, the commercial exemplary operations with a total of 10 super-capacitor buses were carried out along the inner circle of Line 11. In April, 2008, the 17 operating buses of Line 11 were upgraded completely with the super-capacitor buses. For this year’s Shanghai Expo, a total of 61 super-capacitor buses have been put into operation along the Expo Boulevard Line, one of the major bus lines in the Expo Site. Ever since the opening of the Expo Site, the super-capacitor buses operated by the Bus Group have run over 640,000 kilometers, served accumulatively over 188,000 shifts and carried nearly 20 million passengers. In the meantime, these buses have experienced such multiple challenges as super large passenger flow of over half a million people having emerged for several times, the bad weather featuring continuous extremely high temperature, and multiple thunderstorms and windstorms etc.

During their trip to the Expo, the Hong Kong Government Delegation was so much fascinated by the super-capacitor buses running along the Expo Boulevard that they particularly made investigations in-depth about such issues as the vehicle operation, charging performance and operating cost etc. Later on, the Hong Kong Government decided that field test with such vehicles shall be conducted first of all at Kowloon Bus.

 In July, the technicians of the Project Team of Shanghai Modern Transportation Construction and Development Co., Ltd. went to Hong Kong for the installation and commissioning of the power supply equipment of the super-capacitor buses. Before long, a super-capacitor bus manufactured by Shanghai Sun Win was delivered through the customs to Hong Kong for initial test of charged operation, which was completed successfully and recognized with appreciation by Kowloon Bus Motor. As introduced, the super-capacitor bus sent to Hong Kong for field test has utilized a single-unit charging system, which has been applied to the field of charging electric bus the first time ever and realized the diversified power supply modes for super-capacitor bus. The whole course of test will last for a couple of months, with the super-capacitor bus’s performance under the worst Hong Kong weather to be tested and appraised in detail.
 
——Excerpts from Jiefang Daily  August 31, 2010

120 Electric Buses: Not One Less
Every morning, in the electric bus support base located in Pudong Expo Site, members of the SAIC Sun-Win New Energy Passenger Vehicle Operation support Team will be busy with the “physical examination” of the totally 120 pure electric buses in terms of light, air-conditioner, cell and electric cabinet, from inside to outside, with no minute detail to be neglected.

“When sending off the buses every day, we won’t feel relieved until all buses have driven out of the support base,” said Sun Keliang, Head of the Pure Electric Bus Operation Support Division. “If the 120-pure-electric-bus fleet runs with a single bus missing, the tourists would probably suffer from longer waiting under the burning sunshine and the running buses would get even more crowded.”

 “Not one less”—that’s the working target and requirement of the Support Division. Given the fact that these 120 buses independent of gas will carry over 400,000 passengers on average per day, which are times of the capacity of ordinary buses. Even the ordinary buses would be exhausted under such workload, let alone those pure electric buses that are rare all over the world. In order to fulfill the commitment of safe and stable operations for up to 184 days, the SAIC New Energy Vehicle R&D, Maintenance and Support Divisions dedicate all their efforts without taking a moment for relaxation. 

Never Overlook a Minute Problem:

The other day, the Warranty Service Center’s telephone rang hurriedly: “Master Wu, come and take a look. How on earth should the bus go reversely when I step on the electric switch by the stop?” Wu Hongwei, the 58-year-old Head of Warranty Service Center of the Support Division was pretty worried on hearing of the message. This is a problem that has never been encountered before. Should there be anything wrong with the electric control system? Why it was not disclosed in operations in the last 2 months?

 Wu rushed to the bus stop for an on-site investigation. He sat down next to the driver, observing closely the driver’s operating procedures. Then he got off the bus and squatted down on watching how the bus goes reversely. Three times back and forth, Wu got the picture in his mind. “There’s nothing wrong with the vehicle. It’s caused by driver’s habit and terrain by the bus stop.” 

Compared with the accelerators of traditional buses, the electric switches of part of the new buses would react a bit sluggishly, which would become even more apparent when the bus is fully loaded. Given the facts of large passenger flow, heavy load and high dispatching frequency along the bus stops in the Expo Site, some road surfaces have sunk a little bit. If a bus happens to stop on the little slope and the starting signal triggers a bit sluggishly, the bus would go reversely.

With the trouble located, Wu Hongwei immediately improved the drivers’ operating procedures to stop bus by bus stops and step on the electric switches. They are now advised to pull up the hand brake as much as possible when the bus has stopped; On start up, they should first of all step on the electric switch and then loosen slowly the hand brake. By doing so, no going reversely would appear any more.

Never Tired of Training

 Of those problems with the new energy vehicles, some are due to the drivers who have not yet got themselves familiarized with the characteristics of the new energy vehicles and some are related with the special operating environment of the Expo. Therefore, strengthened trainings are deemed to be of the utmost significance.

For instance, in terms of the driver operation training, Wu Hongwei and his colleagues offered three additional rounds of training on the basis of the all-staff training in rotation program. As early as in February this year, they worked together with the drivers everyday driving the new energy buses loaded with the sand bags with the air-conditioning on for the comprehensive “simulation operation”. In June, when the Expo had been going on for a period of time, further trainings were offered focusing on some minor troubles as incurred by the driving habits. It took altogether 20 days by tracking one bus after another and accompanying one driver after another to get all these minor troubles resolved. Last month, the conclusions were drawn about the reported breakdowns ever since the opening of the Expo Site. Once more, a concentrated training program was arranged against the particular individual drivers, buses and plate numbers for some 24 drivers who had frequent minor breakdowns with great patience just in order to offer the Expo tourists safer and more comfortable travels by bus.

“These drivers are the carefully chosen masters. However, it takes time to get themselves familiarized as they are to drive the new energy vehicles,” says Wu Hongwei. Only when you have taken sufficient running-in, can you expect to drive a new energy vehicle well and stably enough, incur little or no breakdown and then to satisfy your passengers. According to the statistics from the Pure Electric Bus Support Division, during the trial runs at the end of April, there were over ten breakdowns reported everyday.
 
No Relaxation in Sweating Days

The hot summer days mean a huge challenge to the electric vehicles because the cells fear high temperature the most.

Chen Ming, Panel Head and Vice Director of  Pure Electric Bus Operation Support Division, SAIC, has been staying in a makeshift house at the support base staring at the operation data of the 120 electric buses without venturing on a single moment of negligence. “The temperature has approached 40 degrees centigrade recently and the ground temperature hit 62 degrees centigrade, which caused me a bit concern,” Chen told the journalist.

 To fight against high temperature, the SAIC people have been sufficiently prepared. Each electric bus is equipped with a cell management system, which will help monitor from time to time such indicators as the vehicle temperature, current and voltage etc. The data will be transmitted back to the Monitoring Center. The cell management system will alarm automatically when a certain cell’s temperature exceeds 55 degrees centigrade, in which case the cell power will drop down to maintain the vehicle running at a speed of 40 km/h maximum. Thanks to the buffering time, the cell’s excessive heat will be released gradually.

  Some day in July, an electric bus was found to be smoking due to the cell’s high temperature in the afternoon. Pretty soon, Qin Chao, the Head of SAIC Pure Electric Bus R&D Team and the technicians of the Operation Support Team rushed to the site. Despite the hot weather, they worked from the afternoon till midnight and eventually located where the trouble lied. It was due to the exhausted working personnel who wrongly connected the positive and negative poles when replacing the cell, which broke down and smoked as under the soaring temperature. No more such negligence should be tolerated. Even stricter system is forthwith worked out by both the support base and other relevant organizations to ensure cell replacement without the least deviation.

In order to fulfill the commitment of “not one less”, the SAIC service support team members stick to their posts. Wang Linchang, a member of the pure electric bus technical support team, was unable to accompany his mother who was critically ill; Chen Ming from the Sun Win Company couldn’t afford the time to assist his daughter to review lessons for the upcoming college entrance examination this year; Shen Hong, head of the installation and commissioning team, went on working in spite of his ill health and couldn’t afford the time to distribute the wedding banquet invitations for his son who was to get married……

Thanks to the caring escort of SAIC Expo Support Team, the new energy vehicles that fear high temperature and humidity have turned out to be the iron-hard figures having survived such operation challenges as large passenger flow, high intensity and high frequency and left behind quite a few new records of exemplary operation.

 
——Excerpts from Jiefang Daily   August 28, 2010