Yan Ping clings to green dream during five-year tenure as NPC deputy

The NPC and CPPCC have opened in Beijing. Yan Ping, a deputy to the NPC and chairman of Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group Co., Ltd., has also headed to Beijing for the conferences, bringing with him the Proposal on Subsidizing Medium & Heavy-duty Vehicles up to National IV Emission Standard, staying focused on how to reduce vehicle emissions and promoting environmental protection. Over the past five years, his proposals have basically centered on the development of the internal combustion engine industry and the dream of environmental protection.

Referring to his proposals this year, Yan said, "The nation must release the terminal purchase subsidy policy to drive the emission upgrading of medium & heavy-duty commercial vehicles through, sharpen the competitiveness of independent commercial vehicle brands, and further effectively control and reduce motor vehicle emissions."

According to Yan, though the number of commercial vehicles is only one third of that of passenger vehicles, the emission and travelled distance of a single commercial vehicle are much higher than that of a single passenger vehicle, registering a high proportion of emission. Thus, formulating regulations and policies specific to commercial vehicle discharges should be placed high on the agenda of motor vehicle discharge control.

In his proposal, Yan noted the National IV regulations for commercial vehicles will come into effect on July 1, 2013. From National III regulations to National IV regulations, according to estimate, the cost of a medium-duty vehicle and a heavy-duty vehicle will increase by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan, showing cost increases with vehicle weight. Both engine plants and vehicle plants face heavy cost pressure and cannot afford increased cost. On the other hand, if users bear all increased cost, they will shift the increase by raising freight, thus affecting all aspects of economic activities and driving up price levels. For these reasons, if the nation gives appropriate subsidies for National IV medium & heavy-duty commercial vehicles (Category N2 and N3 specifically), this problem can be addressed. In other word, technical and industrial progress is driven by incentive to accomplish energy conservation and emission reduction.

Over the five years as an NPC deputy, Yan has paid special attention to green emissions of engines. If vehicle is the largest mobile pollution source, Yuchai will be a "controller of the largest mobile pollution source", that is why Yuchai has persistently invested heavily in engine emission upgrading and become the leader in every emission upgrade. He said, "beautiful China" is not empty talk but needs to be supported by many things. Heavy traffic shall not be against environment and vehicles need to have "green hearts" to improve environment.

Yan Ping attended the NPC and CPPCC for the first time In 2008. He paid close attention to the R & D and improvement of vehicle engines and core technologies in the country. We face extreme challenges: firstly, we directly face the competition from multinationals in such aspects as technology and fund; secondly, control and negative control of core technologies, such as the key technologies of electronic injection system, vehicle exhaust after treatment system and car diesel engine, he said, making a proposal that efforts should be made to pool resources to resolve key technical problems as soon as possible in order to invigorate China's national industry. Enterprises should, in association with institutions of higher education and research institutes, strive to make breakthroughs in core genetic technologies

"As far as the engine industry is concerned, we have not mastered two core technologies in the engine system: one is electronic injection system and the other is after treatment system. The two technologies have not been monopolized by foreign enterprises. If these technical problems are not tackled, China will be at a disadvantage in the new wave of competition set off by multinationals when China becomes the world's largest auto-consuming country around 2015," Yan voiced his deep anxiety for China's manufacturing.

In 2009, Yan continued to call for using the principles of chemistry and combustion to turn every engine into an air cleaner. As China's leading engine manufacturer, Yuchai was endeavoring to keep pace with world leading enterprises in terms of combustion development, low-emission development and mechanical development.

In 2010, Yan Ping paid attention to engine parts remanufacturing and offered much good advice on engine remanufacturing. He thought, "Engines' recycling value is very high," and "Engine remanufacturing can conserve energy by 60 percent and materials by 70 percent, hardly produce solid waste and reduce air pollutant emissions by over 80 percent, thus significantly reducing the negative impact on environment."

Meanwhile, Yuchai was also committed to engine remanufacturing, was listed among the country��s first group of pilot enterprises for auto parts remanufacturing, undertook the 30,000-unit engine remanufacturing project and established a remanufacturing enterprise with Caterpillar, thus embarking upon the road of reducing social cost, developing the cyclic economy and manufacturing green engines.

In 2011, referring to promoting the continuous and healthy development of China's internal combustion engine industry, Yan suggested that relevant state departments should examine and approve some new engine investment projects from the perspective of overall industrial development, and that attention, support and guidance to the internal combustion engine industry should be further increased and core parts R & D should be included in national strategies to break the monopoly by Western countries as soon as possible.

At the call of Yan and with the unremitting efforts of Yuchai, upon approval by the National Development and Reform Commission, the national engineering laboratory of high-efficiency, energy-conserving and environment-friendly internal combustion engines, representing the highest level of China��s internal combustion engine industry, settled in Yuchai in November 2011. The laboratory is aimed to develop generic and key industrial technologies in such aspects as energy conservation and emission reduction, noise reduction, light weight and control, will be built into an open industrial technical R & D platform and R & D achievement transformation platform, will play a critical role in boosting China��s capacity for technical innovation of internal combustion engines and sharpening the core competitiveness of relevant industries, and has filled a domestic gap in such laboratories.

As an NPC deputy, Yan also voiced his opinions on some issues of social management with a strong sense of responsibility and the high awareness of administration and discussion of state affairs. He thought the nation should pay attention to the continuity of the policies for machinery industry operation and development and the development of basic equipment technologies, increase the accountability of major safety problem, intensify environmental protection including river, lake and sea treatment and water loss and soil erosion control, and pay attention to undesirable phenomena such as the grass-roots level value official achievements above solid work.

Under Yan's leadership, Yuchai has kept releasing new technical achievements. Over the five years, Yuchai has developed several domestic initiative technologies, co-formulated a dozen national and industrial standards, and undertaken six "863" key projects in the "eleventh five-year" period including development of diesel engines for heavy-duty commercial vehicles, development of CNG engines for large buses, development of diesel engines for cars and development of hybrid diesel engines for coaches. On June 29, 2011, Yuchai launched China's first Euro VI diesel engine for vehicles--prototype of Yuchai 6L-60 Euro VI engine, filling a domestic gap in high-efficiency and clean diesel engines, and increasing the country��s technical level of low-emission engine development. At the National Science & Technology Award Conference in January 2013, the Key Technologies and Industrialization of Energy-conserving and Environment-friendly Engines of Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. grabbed the second national prize for progress in science and technology. The project has achieved a breakthrough in the key technology of energy-conserving and environment-friendly diesel engines up to international standards, and has basically kept pace with Europe in such aspects as emission control, fuel economy, thermal efficiency of engines, specific power and B10 life.