News out this morning - check your quote server......
Supporting the recent news release from the company, please consider this information found during a recent web search:
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China-cabs turning to gas
May 26, 1998 General Motors Corporation, IMPCO Technologies, Inc., and
FuelMaker Corporation, in co-operation with the Beijing Science and
Technology Commission, have completed a 6-month technical training program
to prepare Beijing city officials and automotive experts to convert buses
and taxis to natural gas. The operation of vehicles properly converted to
natural gas is significantly cleaner than gasoline-powered vehicles.
A five-passenger taxi designed and built by Beijing Automotive Industrial
Corporation Group left Los Angeles this week after being converted to
natural gas by a team of three automotive engineers from Beijing who
trained at IMPCO's Technology and Automotive OEM Division in Irvine,
California.
In precision tests the converted taxi showed significant reductions in CO
and hydrocarbons, the main factors in automobile pollution, and slight
reductions in NOx. The experimental vehicle could achieve even lower
emissions with further tuning. The team could not calculate exact
improvements because instruments designed for California's strict emissions
regulations do not measure accurately levels of emissions as high as the
original gasoline taxi.
Before the conversion project began, GM, IMPCO and FuelMaker provided two
weeks of training throughout the United States and Canada to Beijing
officials developing standards and infrastructure for use of natural gas in
Beijing's public transportation system. In addition, GM and Beinei Group
Corporation engineers recently converted one of their locally manufactured
engines to natural gas and validated it in the dynamometer laboratory at
Tsinghua University.
"Alternative fuel vehicles are of great significance to cities like Beijing
that are suffering serious air pollution," said Beijing Vice Mayor Wang
Guangtao. "To effectively reduce the air pollution caused by automobile
exhaust emission, Beijing has determined to pursue an international
co-operation approach in alternative fuel vehicle technology to advance
local capabilities. Thecollaboration between GM, IMPCO and Beijing is a
very good start."
"This co-operation with Beijing is General Motors' most recent example of
our long-term commitment to bring clean car technology to China," said GM
China President Rudy Schlais. "Our broader effort includes co-operation to
increase the acceptance and availability of clean unleaded fuel for today's
vehicles, and to develop more affordable electric vehicle technology for
the future. We are especially interested in regions where alternative fuels
such as natural gas are abundant, and are also interested in larger cities
where motor vehicles' exhaust emission is a major environmental concern."
The Chinese engineers' training included theoretical and practical lessons
on natural gas components, subsystems and vehicles.
"Hands-on" experiences included machining, calibration and tuning,
strategies for improving emissions performance testing and cost-benefit
analysis on different fuel and emissions systems. The visitors drove
state-of-the art natural gas vehicle conversions and GM's electrically
powered EV1. FuelMaker Corporation briefed the group on refuelling systems,
and GM Proving Ground engineers in Arizona and Michigan demonstrated
emissions and safety test procedures.
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