Beiren Group’s Deputy Vice President, Mr. Pang, Lian Dong, and his colleagues visited Powerzinc Electric (Shanghai), Inc. on December 11th and 12th. Referred by Mr. Wang, Zi Dong, the Director of the Ministry Of Science & Technology’s 863 Electric Vehicle Fuel Cell Test Center, Mr. Pang had stopped by Powerzinc’s booth a couple times during Beijing International Electric Vehicle Show on December 6, 2002. The purpose of this follow-up visit is to get an in-depth understanding on Powerzinc’s Zinc-air Fuel Cell technology and its business model. The visitors were impressed with what they saw in the plant during their 2-day visit. Mr. Pang believes that the key parameters of Powerzinc’s Zinc-air Fuel Cell, such as high specific energy and specific power, provide strong indications that the product has advantages in the real-world application. The parties discussed potential cooperation in the meeting.

Mr. Pang and his company have a thorough understanding on zinc-air fuel cell in general. As a leading publishing equipment manufacturer, Beiren Group had paid 20 million RMB licensing fee to a domestic zinc-air fuel cell developer. The company is now focusing on domestic EV market. They have recently won the bid of Beijing municipal government’s public tender for 3-wheel electric handicap vehicles. The company is looking for right power source for their project.

As a result of the visit, Beiren Group shipped a sample 3-wheel electric handicap vehicle to Powerzinc Shanghai on December 18, 2002. Their own engineering staff performed tests on site. After two days’ tests, they are very satisfied with the tests results. The maximum current of the electric vehicle is up to 75A and it can climb a 10 degree and 25m long slope even drive with two person (total load is about 160kg). Due to they really believe that the advantage of the zinc air fuel cell is that its energy capacity is quite large enough, so it is no necessary to test the range of the electric vehicle. Moreover, due to the limited time and the bad weather, after 83km range test, they stopped the test. After the tests, the electric vehicle still has excellent capability of acceleration and climbing.