There are more than 60 bus builders in China, but only 7 attended Bus World Asia Show in Shanghai. The top 4 leaders in the Chinese bus market, Yutong, Higer, Kinglong, Golden Dragon, were all absent, which made the so called Asia show into a exchange platform for a few Chinese smaller builders.

From March 19th to May 14th this year, Tianjin Bus Show, Shanghai Busworld and Beijing Bus Show were held one by one. Every builder, except Ankai and FAW, do not want to attend all of them because their quantities of new buses are limited. They cannot design all new buses for a show every month. Otherwise, Yutong, whose sales volume was equal to 2nd, 3rd, 4th builders' combined in 2010, attended none of these shows.

Fortunately, Shanghai Busworld did not lack highlights - the major highlights this year were obviously the electric bus and coach range that practically every manufacturer had one show. Some years ago, bus builders liked to develop hybrid electric buses. But today, most exhibitors showed their all-electric urban buses, or even all-electric long distance coaches.

Hengtong CKZ6127 all-electric urban bus attracted the most attention from visitors. It is claimed that the 12-metre-long bus can be charged in only 10 minutes and driven for 30-50 kilometers. The range is not very long, but is enough for an urban bus goes from an originating station to a terminal station. Thanks to its lithium titanate battery, the rapid charging time makes the practical operation possible. Moreover, the battery cycle lifetime is up to 20,000 times, which means it is unnecessary to be replaced for 10 years - equal to the lifetime of whole vehicle. 2 CKZ6127 are being demonstrated in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, but we are not sure if the technical parameters are applicable in the real world.

In contrast, Ankai HFF6127K46EV all-electric sub-urban coach is more down-to-earth. Ankai was a joint venture between former Hefei Feihe Automotive and former Kasbohrer. The battery - super capacitor hybrid power train is provided by Ruihua Group, just like another exhibitor, Alfa Bus YS6120DG. HFF6127K46EV and its predecessors began to be demonstrated from Beijing Olympic Games, 2008. So far, they have been operated in Dalian, Shanghai, etc. This bus in the showroom has run for 21,666km - looks reliable. But 7-hour-long charging time is still unacceptable for most bus operators.

Many Chinese all-electric buses plugged into Shanghai Busworld, but we do not know which can go into mass production in the near future. There are too many technical obstacles on the table, therefore we cannot be overly enthusiastic at this early stage.