KUALA LUMPUR: China has launched its first hybrid buses, which have solar panels manufactured on their roofs in a new push to go greener in the East Asian country. The buses were maid at a factory in Qiqihar in northeastern China, the government said on Wednesday. The buses are fixed with solar energy, which officials believe can prolong the life of the lithium batteries used to power the bus by 35 percent, with the buses consuming only 0.6 to 0.7 kilowatt-hours of electricity per kilometer, according to company technicians. “The solar photovoltaic-powered electric buses can accommodate a maximum 100 passengers,” officials were quoted as saying to the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday. The industrial park represents the northeastern province of Heilongjiang's largest new energy project, built in 2010 with an investment of 2.1 billion yuan ($329 million). The park is expected to aggregate automobile enterprises in the province so as to become an emerging new energy automobile production base in China. China has been struggling with environmental degradation in recent years, and hopes the new buses can push toward a new China, which is “greener and cleaner.”
