The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Thursday donated four electricity-powered buses to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

The four electric buses, painted blue and green with the Olympic logo, will run between Olympic stadiums, the Olympic Village and the Media Village round the clock during the Games, to kick off on Aug. 8.

They are part of the 50 such buses that will serve the Olympic Games. All are developed by the Beijing Institute of Technology and manufactured by the Beijing-based Jinghua Coach Co. Ltd.

The buses are powered by lithium ion batteries, give out no waste gas and produced little noise, said Lin Cheng, an expert on electric vehicles and engineering at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

"These buses are much quieter than ordinary ones and fully realize 'zero emissions'," he said.

According to him, a bus like this can carry 80 passengers and run at a speed of 80 km per hour.

"Every one kwh of electricity can fuel a bus to run for one km. Charged once, a bus can run for about 130 km with the air conditioner on," he said.

The control room at the Olympic Village would monitor the buses and the condition of their batteries. "We can detect even minor problems of the batteries and they would be fixed as soon as possible."

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing environmental protection bureau, said these buses would serve residents after the Games.

"Apart from helping to achieve low-carbon approaches to Olympic venue operation, we seek to use the Olympics as a platform for raising awareness among the public on the options for sustainable public transport in China," said Subinay Nandy, Country Director of UNDP China.

The city has adopted several clean energy technologies to fulfill its promise to host a "green" Olympics.

Besides the electric commute buses, about 400 electric venue vehicles and 15 electric cleaning vehicles will also serve in the Games.

Another 105 hybrid vehicles and 23 fuel cell cars and buses will also begin operation.

"UNDP expects the demonstration of clean energy buses in Beijing can lead to the further development and deployment by the local government and its partners of low-carbon vehicle technologies," Nandy said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2008)