Kummerow Corp. Signs Accord to Help Solve Shanghai's Air Pollution with Electric Motor Scooters
24 February 1998
Kummerow Corp. Signs Accord to Help Solve Shanghai's Air Pollution with Electric Motor Scooters
BURBANK, Calif., Feb. 24 -- Kummerow Corp. of North America
(KCNA) has signed a letter of intent with Wangdi Industry (USA) Development
Co., Ltd. The two companies intend to develop an advanced zinc-air battery
technology for use on electric scooters.
The two companies intend to cooperate on technology development and
financing necessary to produce batteries to power a low-cost electric scooter
intended for sale in Shanghai, the largest city in China. Shanghai's 20
million residents suffer substantial health threats from the city's serious
and growing air pollution problems. Shanghai residents own and operate more
than 650,000 scooters propelled by two-stroke gasoline powered motors. "These
gasoline scooters have no pollution controls. They are the worst sources of
air pollution in Shanghai," said Hans W. Kummerow, President of KCNA, after a
visit to Shanghai.
"Motor scooters are a basic means of transportation in Shanghai. However,
they cause so much air pollution that the Shanghai Municipal Government has
stopped issuing license plates for gas powered scooters," said Kummerow. "To
succeed in this market, an electric scooter must perform well and be available
at a very low price. We believe that zinc-air battery technology is capable
of meeting those challenges with further development."
Kummerow's zinc air batteries have already proved their performance by
smashing the world record distance for an electric vehicle, running 1,043
miles on a single charge -- more than double the previous record for any type
of battery. The same battery technology is powering an electric transit bus
in a demonstration project in Singapore, as well as passenger and delivery
vehicles in a Karlsruhe, Germany, pilot project. Kummerow also is working in
a fully funded joint project with the City of Alameda, California, to produce
an electric delivery vehicle (based on an existing postal delivery type of
vehicle), and an electric powered line truck, both of which would be used by
Alameda's Bureau of Electricity.
"Only zinc-air battery technology has the potential to provide a
sufficiently low cost to power an electric scooter that Shanghai residents can
afford," Kummerow said. "We look forward to further developing a specific
design of the zinc air battery that meets the needs of the huge Chinese
market."
Zinc air batteries have significant performance advantages over competing
battery technologies, Kummerow said. They have substantially greater range
for a given battery size and weight than any other battery technology. They
can be manufactured inexpensively using abundant and cheap metallic zinc, and
pose no environmental problems related to their disposal. If the project goes
forward, the zinc air batteries would be manufactured in Shanghai. The
projected production would be 50,000 batteries in the first year, scaling up
to 200,000 batteries per year after four years. Kummerow hopes to begin
production in Shanghai as early as late 1998, Kummerow said.
Wangdi has evaluated every current and emerging electric battery
technology, and has concluded that only zinc-air battery technology is capable
of meeting both performance and cost performance standards necessary to
develop a successful electric scooter for the Shanghai market.
D. Q. Yang of Wangdi has studied the potential of advanced lead-acid
batteries, Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad), Nickel Metal Hydride (HiMH), Fabric NiMH,
Lithium Ion (Li-ion), Polymer Li-ion and zinc air batteries. "To meet our
performance and cost goals, only a further development of the zinc air battery
could be successful as a practical power source for electric scooters," Yang
said. "All other battery technologies are just too expensive for the Shanghai
transportation market, and none have the capability of producing enough range
on a single electric charge."
The project's goal is to develop a motor scooter with low cost including
battery recharging equipment. It should have a total operating cost
(electricity plus battery depreciation) less than existing gas-powered
scooters, and offer a single-charge range of 125 to 150 kilometers
(approximately 75 to 100 miles). The project also expects to create an
electric bicycle. KCNA is a Burbank-based California corporation. It is
majority-owned by the Kummerow family of Germany.
Wangdi Industry USA Development Co., Ltd. is located in City of Industry,
CA. It is the U.S. subsidiary of Kinghope Co., Ltd., a Chinese company.
SOURCE Kummerow Corp. of North America