(Fuelcelltoday, Nov 28, 2006) Up to a quarter of all cars in China could be running on fuel cells by 2020 according to one Chinese academic. Professor Gang Wan, president of Tongji University in Shanghai, argues that a proposed cap on the import of oil could force the Chinese fuel cell vehicle market to develop at a faster rate than those in Europe and North America, Auto Industry News reports.

The proposed cap on road fuel of 150 million tonnes a year would fall far short of the demand expected by 2020, Professor Wan said, with around one in ten Chinese people expected to be running a car by then.

This, he said, would necessitate the need for the development of alternative energy sources.

According to Auto Industry, China has already produced ten fuel cell vehicles, with around 100 expected to be operating by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and 1,000 running by 2010.

Steam recovered from Chinese steel plants could be used as a source of hydrogen, produced through electrolysis, for the fuel cell vehicles, Professor Wan said.

Source:Fuelcelltoday