[sustran] Fw: CHINA'S CYCLISTS TAKE CHARGE

[Eric Bruun]

>
>-----Forwarded Message-----
>>From: Rob Hayes <editable7 at yahoo.com>
>>Sent: Feb 8, 2006 6:39 PM
>>To: Eric Bruun <ericbruun at earthlink.net>
>>Subject: CHINA'S CYCLISTS TAKE CHARGE
>>
>>
>>
>>Recently published in the IEEE Spectrum journal
>>
>>This month's issue of the IEEE Spectrum magazine has an article about
>>e-bikes in China. Here are the first few paragraphs for you reading
>>pleasure:
>>
>>CHINA'S CYCLISTS TAKE CHARGE
>>ELECTRIC BICYCLES ARE SELLING BY THE MILLIONS DESPITE EFFORTS TO BAN
>>THEM
>>BY PETER FAIRLEY
>>
>>It's 8 a.m. and Shanghai is moving.
>>
>>For the cars and trucks crammed together on the elevated highway
>>cutting through downtown, it's a slow crawl. On the smaller roads
>>below, traffic is rolling at a steady 10 to 15 kilometers per hour in
>>what
>> looks like a more traditional Chinese street scene. Vying with
>>the cars and trucks for the same strip of pavement are a motley
>>assortment of two- and three-wheeled vehicles-everything from simple
>>steel-frame bikes and heavily laden pedal-powered carts to motorized
>>scooters.
>>
>>Hidden within this stream is an entirely novel, homegrown class of
>>commuter vehicle: electric bikes and scooters. There are an estimated
>>1 million electric two-wheelers on Shanghai's streets; yet to the
>>Western observer it is only what's missing that gives them away. Some
>>look like scooters, but they have no tailpipe spewing exhaust, no
>>sputtering engine. Some look like fanciful bicycles, but their pedals
>>are oddly still as riders relax and let the battery-powered electric
>>motor whisk them to work.
>>
>>For all the talk of China's growing infatuation with automobiles, the
>>world's most populous nation continues to roll primarily on two
>>wheels-and, increasingly, an
>> electric motor drives them. The China
>>Bicycle Association, a government-chartered industry group in
>>Beijing, estimates that last year manufacturers sold 7.5 million
>>electric bikes nationwide-nearly double the sales in 2003-and they
>>are likely to ship more than 10 million this year.
>>
>>That's three times as many as the most optimistic projections for
>>auto sales in China. There's a powerful desire for motorized personal
>>transportation in China as its cities sprawl. The electric bicycle is
>>an attractive option for commuters, service people, and couriers. At
>>1500 to 3000 yuan (US $180 to $360), an electric bike is buyable at a
>>small fraction of the cost of an automobile. It is also exhilarating.
>>Hop on and crank the throttle, and an electric motor built into the
>>hub propels you to speeds of 20 km/h or more.
>>
>>Despite the obvious appeal of electric bikes, some Chinese cities have
>>banned them altogether, alleging environmental drawbacks and
>> concerns
>>about public safety. But that hasn't stopped millions from buying
>>electric two-wheelers in China-an astonishing development for
>>advocates who have struggled for a decade to build a market for
>>electric bikes in the United States and Europe.
>>
>>"It is the dawn of a new era in electric bicycles," says Frank E.
>>Jamerson, a former leader in electric vehicle R&D at General Motors
>>Corp. whose Naples, Fla.-based consultancy recently completed a
>>worldwide review of developments in light electric vehicles. "The
>>electric bike is now a real player." Jamerson says China's electric
>>bicycles accounted for roughly three-quarters of the electric
>>vehicles (EVs) sold worldwide last year. "Courtesy of the Chinese
>>domestic market, we now have very cheap electric propulsion systems
>>that will move a human being," says Ed Benjamin, vice president of
>>the Light Transport Division at electric-propulsion-technology
>>firm WaveCrest Laboratories LLC, in
>> Dulles, Va., and an authority on
>>electric-bicycle markets. "The question is: what are we going to do
>>with them? I'd say we don't know yet."
>>
>>
>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>>			
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