On May 25, 2004, the Ministry of Science and Technology (Most) signed an agreement with DaimlerChrysler to purchase three Mercedes Benz Citaro fuel cell buses for demonstration in Beijing. The three fuel cell buses will arrive in Tianjin Xingang port, China before Sep., 2005. From FCB importation to FCB operation, approvals by many different government organizations need to be obtained. It is necessary to make the relavant government departments to understand the fuel cell bus before their arrival. Taking the advantage of Hyforum 2004, where the FCB’s were on exhibition, a workshop on GEF/UNDP China Demonstration Project for FCB Commercialization Project was held. The main objective is to discuss the fuel cell bus standards and the related polices.

　　About 35 officers and experts from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, the National Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, the China Quality Certification Centre, the Beijing Public Transport Corporation，Tsinghua University, the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, the Beijng Association for Science and Technology, the Beijing Municipal Communication Commission Development Planning Commission of Beijing and Daimler Chrysler etc. attended the meeting.

　　Experts from Daimler Chrysler AG introduced the DC Fuel Cell Citaro Bus and its certification process in Europe. In 2002, the D/C fuel cell buses gained the German TüV certification, and was permitted to operate in Europe. Since 2003, the D/C fuel cell Bus has been in demonstration in 10 cities of 8 countries in Europe.

　　The fuel cell bus is new to China, There are no related standards and polices locally at present. The representatives of the relavant departments each expressed their own views in the meeting. A common wish was to facilitate the successful operation of the fuel cell bus in China. Everyone understood that a new kind of technology will promote the forming of new technology standards and policies, the lack of which at present was only temporal .

　　The representatives from the National Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision and the China quality Certification Centre both raised the question on EMC test methods, the high voltage isolation and the protection against hydrogen explosion. In order to remove the concerns about the safety of the fuel cell bus, a professor from Tsinghua University and an expert from Daimler Chrysler showed video of gun shooting and burning tests of the fuel cell bus. Because leaking hydrogen diffuses upwards, the fuel cell bus is actually safer than conventional ICE vehicle in most cases.

　　After the meeting, the attendees visited and rode on the Mercedes-Benz Citaro Fuel Cell Bus produced by DaimlerChrysler and the prototype of Fuel Cell City bus made by Tsinghua University.