The 2nd workshop of the GEF-UNDP Demonstration Project for FCB Commercialization in China was held from July 10 to 11, 2003 in Beijing. The meeting mainly studied the basic requirements and specification for FCBs and hydrogen infrastructure in Beijing and Shanghai, and discussed the work schedule for the near future. More than 30 people attended the occasion, including officers and experts from the National Project Management Office, Beijing Public Transport Corporation, Shanghai Electric Bus Corporation ,Beijing and Shanghai Municipality; experts from National 863 Electric Vehicle Program, Tsinghua University, Tongji University, related research institutes, as well as the new Chief Technical Advisor.

　　The two-day meeting was presided over by Mr. Chen Jiachang, Deputy-Director of the National FCB Project, and Prof. Lun Jingguang, National Project Coordinator. The participants were well-prepared and had enthusiastic discussions. Mr. Wallace voiced many constructive opinions. The meeting came to a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the project. Four study reports on FC bus and hydrogen infrastructure (two each from Beijing and Shanghai) were presented during this meeting.

 
　　China hopes to develop this project quickly. However, there are several major challenges to successful implementation of the program. The greatest challenge is reducing the cost of the fuel cell buses to an affordable level while maintaining the technical performance and reliability of the vehicles. The participants decided that Beijing and Shanghai must do their best to unify their fuel cell bus technical specifications , and use common subsystems. Second, the specifications must take into account the relative immaturity of the technology, and should consider the capability of the suppliers when determining the requirements. A draft outline of the major specifications was created based upon the customer requirements of the Beijing and Shanghai transit authorities. The freedom to choose competing technical approaches was left to the responding suppliers as long as these customer specifications can be met. This additional flexibility is intended to reduce both the costs and risks of the program, with new unproven technology only used when necessary to meet the customer requirements. Given this underlying strategy, the program office and other team members organized to contact the potential suppliers, provide them with the operating strategy and preliminary specification, and solicited comments concerning any issues or potential improvements that could be made. While the project is under way, every possible means should be taken to invite participation from additional potential suppliers.

　　The meeting discussed the working plan for the next stage. First, based on the unified main technical specifications of the vehicles, the project office will work out the draft of unified bid documents that will be reviewed by both Beijing and Shanghai customers. Second, the Beijing Project Office will make further analysis of the actual route grade, time and speed requirements because of the sensitivity of these requirements on fuel cell engine and battery sizing. While ensuring the comfort of the passengers, we will make our best efforts to reduce the power of the air-conditioners, which should be explicitly indicated in the main technical specifications. Third, the Beijing and Shanghai project offices should speedily work out their respective draft for bid documents for hydrogen fueling stations, each corresponding to its own local requirements. Special attention should be paid to the hydrogen fueling stations budgets, which will be submitted to the National Project Office, in order to decide the specification of the public biddings for hydrogen fueling stations.

　　The experts attending the meeting gave sound proposals regarding future work. Mr. Wallace advised that it is not necessary to develop hydrogen fueling station/FCB bid packages. He said experiences in other countries show the construction of hydrogen fueling stations usually depends on local resources and conditions. However, the interface between the hydrogen source and the fuel cell vehicles should conform to existing international standards. This will allow using existing designs and equipment, lowering costs and risk while ensuring that the China program meets all international requirements.