CSR: Rail Tycoon Sets Foot in Electric Vehicle Sector

On August 18th, the State-Owned Enterprise Electric Vehicle Industry Alliance, which was headed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, was founded in Beijing, and the state will invest 1.3 billion yuan as the start-up capital to develop the electric vehicle industry. As one of the sponsors, CSR, the rail transit equipment production tycoon in China, serves as a key player in the alliance s Complete Vehicle and Electric Drive Professional Committee.

As a rail transit equipment manufacturer, CSR has become the leader in the electric vehicle sector, and why it strongly develops the electric vehicle industry? What strong points it has in the sector?

Chairman of CSR Zhao Xiaogang said: the electric vehicle sector is a sunrise industry. With the advent of energy shortage and low-carbon economy times, the automobile industry is bound to transform from fuel age to electric age. That accordingly provides Chinese automobile industry with a hard-won opportunity to overtake international counterparts.

Electric vehicle s core technologies consist of motor drive system, complete vehicle control system, and battery application system. CSR gets the hang of these technologies because it has set foot in the electric rail transit equipment industry for a long time .

First-rate Enterprises Sell Standard

Level-I enterprises sell standard, Level-II enterprises sell technology, and Level-III enterprises sell product , namely, the standard is the root for an industry. Since the beginning of the First Industrial Revolution, European and American countries always predominated in the formulation of new standards.

Today, the new energy times is around the corner, which provides us with a hard-won opportunity to overtake them, and the newly established State-Owned Enterprise Electric Vehicle Industry Alliance aims to unify relevant standards in respect of the complete electric vehicle and infrastructure.

Five state-owned enterprises in the alliance s Complete Vehicle and Electric Drive Professional Committee have come to an agreement that they will build up the technical communication mechanism to intensify technical communication between member units, according to Zheng Changhong, president of CSR. The alliance will take the lead in disassembling generic technologies, coordinating project establishment, and launching joint research. As to motor, battery, integration, and installation means, the alliance will establish the uniform standard to achieve modularization and reduce the cost.

In terms of standard formulation, CSR has its unique advantages: CSR is the responsible unit of IEC/TC9 industry standard in China, and it ever partook in the formulation of the international standard on behalf of China. After being approved, CSR has built up the National Traction Electric Equipment and System Standardization Technical Committee, which comprises several professional teams like Traction Power Supply System , Locomotive Vehicle and Electric Drive System , Motor Appliance and Network and Control and mainly assumes the formulation of national standard for China traction electric equipment and system industry.

Traction Electric Drive and Control System is the core technology of the electric vehicle, and its relevant standards establishment will boost the formulation of the entire electric vehicle industry s standard.

Start from the Core Technology

CSR s development in the electric vehicle industry dates back to 2002 when the Ministry of Science and Technology listed the electric vehicle into Key Technological Project of 863 Program during the 10^th Five-year Plan period. Meanwhile, CSR successfully won the bid for three projects, namely, Fuel Battery Passenger Car-Motor and Its Control System , Multi-energy Power Assembly Control System , and Fuel Battery Sedan- DC/DC Converter .

By virtue of core technical competitiveness in AC traction electric drive and network control system etc., CSR, backed by dozens of projects in the 863 Program , has cultivated eight major key technologies in the electric vehicle sector, such as complete vehicle design, electric vehicle electric system integration, parallel and series hybrid power system, motor-driven system for vehicle, vehicle-mounted energies like battery and super capacitor etc application and management system, automobile network control, electric vehicle s in-vehicle and ground charger, and automobile auxiliary power supply.

As a result, CSR has become China s tiptop electric system technology integrator. At the present day, China has two bases for the commercialization of achievements of 863 Program made during the 10th Five-year Plan period, one of which is located at CSR ZELRI, the core subsidiary of CSR.

In 2009, CSR developed the above 40kW including 40kW permanent magnet motor and control system used in mainstream city buses, and it overcame such technical hard nuts as demagnetization of permanent magnet, difficult positioning of permanent magnet, and difficulty in flux weakening control etc., in addition to successfully commercializing its achievements, which marked that CSR got the hang of core technologies and applications of middle & large-power induction motor and permanent magnet motor in the electric vehicle drive system sector.

By now, CSR has been granted 46 patents in respect of electric vehicle, including 14 invention patents, 22 practical and novel patents, and 10 appearance design patents. In addition, 27 patent applications are being reviewed.

At the meantime, CSR established the 3200-plus square meters of multifunctional electric vehicle comprehensive laboratory, and that it was equipped with international first-rate product test & experiment resources like converter technology application laboratory, compound environment laboratory, control technology and computer control system development laboratory, and magnetic compatibility laboratory etc. Today, CSR has become China s only enterprise that is equipped with test & experiment measures for key components and complete vehicle.

Take the Lead in Commercialization

As early as 2003, CSR marketed the first electric vehicle. In 2005, CSR ZELRI joined hands with Zhuzhou Bus Company to found the Electric Vehicle Operation Demonstration Company. That helped accumulate plenty of experience for the complete electric vehicle s production and commercialized operation, and this cooperation was also called as Zhuzhou Mode by Wang Gang, the Minister of Science and Technology. In 2007, CSR cooperated with relevant resources to establish the Hunan CSR Times Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., which was China s largest electric vehicle firm.

Control of leading core technologies is the first step, and commercialized operation is the core. During Beijing 2008, Chinese government advocated the application of new energy vehicles. Meanwhile, CSR provided Beijing Bus System with 400-plus trolley bus drive systems, as well as offered the Olympic Village 50 pure electric deluxe passenger cars electric drive systems and 240 battery chargers. CSR s products ran safely and reliably during the Olympic period, which received high recognition from customers and exemplified CSR s contribution to the Green Olympics .

During the Shanghai World Expo, CSR again became the key electric vehicle components supplier for

the Shanghai World Expo, and it provided Shanghai with 23 pure electric light vehicle electric drive systems, which were installed at 23 patrol floats, in a bid to show tourists performances everyday. Furthermore, CSR won Shanghai World Expo s 50% pure electric system orders, 50% ground charger orders, and 100% super capacity electric system orders, and its comprehensive market shares in the World Expo s pure electric drive passenger car sector exceeded 70%.

On February 17^th, 2009, China launched the Energy-saving and New-energy Vehicle 1000 Units in 10 Cities Exemplary Promotion Project, and Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan were selected into the first group of pilot cities. As the core enterprise in the Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan Project, CSR participated in the promotion project in an all-round manner. By June this year, CSR delivered 577 electric vehicles in all, and it is estimated to deliver 853 units as at the end of this year.

By now, the attendance rate of electric vehicles, which were delivered by CSR to the Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan Project, rocketed to more than 98%, and the rate was equivalent to that of traditional gasoline or diesel oil-driven buses. All told, these electric vehicles running mileage has hit 1.

50 million km, with single unit s maximum running mileage surpassing 110,000 km. On the average, these electric vehicles oil-saving rate per 100km stayed above 20%, with cumulative oil-saving volume touching 720,000 liters. As to emission reduction, emission of CO2 decreased 11080t, emission of CO, 66t, and emission of NO, 28t, showing remarkable emission reduction effect.

Today, green energy-saving electric buses have constituted an eye-catching landscape in Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Xiangtan cities.

Technology s Extension to Passenger Vehicles

Source said that the Automobile and New-energy Automobile Plan 2011-2020, which was headed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, had been promulgated, and it would be finalized and submitted to the State Council for approval.

It is learned that according to the plan draft, by 2020, the market size of China new energy automobile industry will rank the world No. 1, with the total number of new-energy automobiles touching 5 million units, and the output and sales volume of China s energy-saving automobiles will also rank the world No. 1, with annual output and sales volume rocketing to 15 million units. To achieve the goal, the Central Finance will invest more than 100 billion yuan to support the development and promotion of the energy-saving and new-energy automobile s core technologies.

As the market forerunner, CSR has made advanced arrangement in the electric vehicle sector. In light of the company plan, CSR will fix eyes on burgeoning industries like electric vehicle to endeavor to cultivate another strategic highland aside from its rail transit equipment, so as to foster the product cluster featuring remarkable characteristics, reasonable layout, core technology possession, and international competitiveness, as well as to make the new-energy industry become the main source for CSR s business growth.

Chairman of CSR Zhao Xiaogang said: in electric vehicle technologies and industry, CSR will develop from electric locomotive, to electric bus, and then to electric passenger vehicle. Presently, CSR s electric locomotive is right staying at the industry maturing phase, its electric bus staying at the industry growing phase, and electric passenger vehicle staying at the industry introduction phase.

Under the premise that electric vehicle s development keeps in line with the world low-carbon economy s trend, accords with the national strategy, and boasts extensive market space, CSR, by virtue of its strong points in technology and industry, will strongly develop such Blue Sea , in order to rear an all-new Green Power Kingdom .