Ministries promote hybrid buses in all cities

The use of hybrid buses, including plug-in hybrid electric buses, will be promoted in all Chinese cities as the central government plans subsidies to companies and institutions that buy them.

The announcement came in a joint statement from the Ministry of Finance and three others.

In January 2009, the four ministries launched a promotion of energy-saving and new energy buses. Twenty-five cities took part, but many of them didn’t achieve the aim of changing to the new buses.

The government will select hybrid-bus brands through a bidding procedure, as it seeks vehicles that can save energy and reduce emissions while providing a stable performance, according to the statement.

The successful bidders will sell their products in cities except the 25 pilot ones. The central government will give the buyers of hybrid buses one-time subsidies.

Total subsidies will be limited to 3,000 to 5,000 buses.

The hybrid buses should comply with relevant conditions. For example, they must be included on the "Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Demonstration and Promotion for Use Project" list, which was issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China on Feb 29.

The buses should be 10 meters long or more, and their oil-saving rate must reach 10 percent. Companies producing hybrid buses must provide three-year or 150,000-kilometer guarantees for components such as the batteries and motor controllers.

The companies should be capable of large-scale production.