The fuel cell is highly efficient and pollution-free and is believed to be an ideal energy device for electrically operated cars.

The device, with fuel stored in an external tank, converts fuel such as hydrogen, methane and propane directly into electricity with about 60 to 70 percent efficiency.

The world's leading car manufacturers have made research and development of electric motor vehicles driven by fuel cells their goal.

Experts believe the international automobile market will be redistributed in the next 10 years, which might be the only opportunity for China's automobile industry to catch up with and surpass the world.

"The country has approached the world's most advanced techniques in producing fuel cells through 20 years of research and development," said Zhou Zhengxiang, vice-director of China Battery Industry Association.

China plans to invest 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) in research of electric automobiles driven by fuel cells, Zhou said.

However, fuel cells cannot be widely used in cars during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), due to high costs and difficulties in building supporting facilities, Zhou added.

China now has more than 20 institutes and enterprises specializing in fuel cells, compared with over 700 in the world, said Shen Peikang, an expert with Zhongshan University.

"The utilization of fuel cells ranges from small electronic components to electric power plants," Shen said.

He believes that the country now has a large potential market for small-sized fuel cells.

According to the battery association's statistics, China produced 17 billion dry batteries last year, with a domestic market demand of over 8 billion.

"It is a huge market, if fuel cells could replace a small part of the dry battery market," Shen said. "Small-sized fuel cells theoretically can be used in electric bicycles, mobile phones and many other small electrical appliance."

The annual consumption of electric bicycles in the country is 100,000, while traditional bicycles number in the hundreds of millions. Shen predicted that the consumption of electric ones will increase to 10 million, if the price is reasonable and performance is good.

"The production of small-sized fuel cells will be commercialized in the following one to two years in China," Shen said.

Ming Pingwen agrees. As general manager of Sunrise Power, China's first listed company devoted to mass production of fuel cells with a total assets of 50 million yuan (US$6.04 million), his company could now manufacture fuel cells for electric bicycles and mobile power supplies. It is expected to mass produce in two years.

China now has four fuel cell enterprises, which have produced four types of electric cars driven by fuel cells so far.

But fuel cell development needs much government investment, Shen added, citing a plan by the Shanghai municipal government to invest 100 million yuan (US$12 million) per year in supporting the research and development of fuel cells.

(China Daily January 14, 2002)