Fiat Backs Chinese Clean Air Drive

Fiat Backs Chinese Clean Air Drive

Fiat is to supply the Beijing Public Transport Company with 1000 natural gas engines to fit to the city’s bus fleet in a bid to dramatically reduce air and noise pollution in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Italian car and commercial vehicle manufacturer has already supplied 320 natural gas engines as part of a development programme between the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory, the China State Agency for the Environmental Protection and the Municipality of Beijing.

The contract is the first realization of a range of pilot projects and feasibility studies for natural resources protection and preservation, energy efficiency, renewable sources promotion, low emission transportation systems and technologies, sustainable agriculture and training courses in environment and energy fields.

This supply of natural gas-supplied heavy engines is the largest ever made by Fiat Group and it is also one of the most important in the world. These engines, manufactured at FPT facility in Turin, will equip locally manufactured busses which will be driving in the Chinese capital in coming months.

Fiat supplied Beijing Transport Company with 320 natural gas engines during 2002 to 2004, developed through a research and development program financed by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory.

These engines, currently used on busses in Beijing, have proved to be reliable and deliver a dramatic reduction in noise and air pollution compared to the existing bus engines.

The natural gas engines designed and produced by Fiat Powertrain Technologies are among the cleanest existing today and they dramatically reduce the noise of vehicles on which they are installed.

Thanks to a stoichiometric combustion process, based on a suitable air/fuel ratio, which uses an exhaust gas three-way catalytic post-treating system, they are able to comply with the strictest standards, such as European standards called Enhanced Environment-friendly Vehicle (EEV), which will come into force much after 2010 for standard production diesel vehicles.

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