Yuchai Machinery stimulates green power

The national V emission standard for commercial vehicles delayed in being released many times finally came into effect this year. This means all vehicles not up to the emission standard will be kept off roads. While the country is making great efforts to control pollution at the source, what should engine manufacturers do?

In the first seven months, the market demand for clean power products of China''s largest internal combustion engine manufacturer Yuchai Group soared. The output of engines of Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. (Yuchai Machinery) up to the national IV standard or above was up 193.67 percent year on year, and the output of national V gas engines was up over 380 percent year on year.

Such high growth shows market demand soared and has been attributable to the enterprise''s efforts in technical innovation.

Value technical innovation

Develop new high-emission engines, get "green pass" to European market

This June, Tao Zemin, chief engineer of the Yuchai R & D Center in charge of leading technology research, worked several days at the laboratory of Euro VI diesel engines. The prototype of China''s first diesel engine up to the Euro VI emission standard involving his development efforts is about to face the "final exam" of the EU and will gain the "green pass" to the European market if it passes the exam.

There are "green passes" for automobile launch abroad, and the domestic market is the same. In Yulin, Guangxi, vehicles not up to the national IV emission standard should not be registered any longer. Last year, Yulin Public Transport purchased 30 buses powered by Yuchai gas-electric hybrid engines. In other cities, Yuchai''s environmentally-friendly engines are also favored. This June, 800 new energy buses purchased by Fushun went into operation.

According to Yan Ping, chairman of Yuchai Group, while losing no time in building the state engineering laboratory of energy conservation and environmental protection, Yuchai has invested 712 million yuan in product R & D this year. Yuchai has been recognized by customers for developing energy-conserving environmentally-friendly engines such as Euro VI engines, plug-in hybrid engines and national V gas engines. In 2012, Yuchai''s engine sales doubled from 2004, but the total particulate (PM) emission of its engines decreased by 22 percent from 2004. The PM emission this year is expected to increase by 33.3 percent from 2012.

Considered as important new energy engines, plug-in hybrid engines more suit the current market environment than electric vehicles. Yuchai is the only domestic engine manufacturer that has mastered the technology. According to Dr. Liangfeng, chief technical engineer of hybrid system development at the New Energy Technology Research Institute, Yuchai R & D Center, Yuchai is superior in hybrid system R & D: first, Yuchai has profound accumulation in engine R & D; second, Yuchai has made a permanent magnet synchronous motor with good effects of energy conservation and independently developed an automated mechanical transmission (AMT), thereby building a powertrain system.

Yuchai has so far launched 2,500 hybrid engines on the market, Liang said, adding that the engine can save fuel cost alone by some 50,000 yuan annually.