Four robbers gunned down

By M. Sivanantha Sharma

KULIM, MALAYSIA - Four armed robbers were gunned down as they charged at the police with a pistol and parang after being cornered following a 30-minute car chase.

The four were identified as M. Jayasilan, 29, from Alor Setar, R. Rames, 20, from Sungai Petani, S. Sundrakanapathi, 26, from Batu Caves and S. Suresa, 27, from Kepala Batas.

They are believed to be involved in 41 cases.

Kedah police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said the four were first spotted in a Proton Waja in Bukit Kukus near here at 9am.

"They were no longer there when a patrol car arrived," he told a press conference at the Kulim district police headquarters yesterday.

"We searched around and spotted the car outside a house in Taman Kulim Technology Park nearby. One of the robbers, who was wearing a ski mask, saw the patrol car and rushed back to the car and drove off.

"They sped off towards Paya Keladi with the patrol car in hot pursuit. We chased them for 30 minutes, ending up at a dead-end road in Bukit Kukus."

DCP Syed Ismail said the four defied police warnings to surrender, adding that one of them opened fire at the police party while the three others ran towards the policemen each with a parang in hand.

"My men were forced to fire at them in self-defence. All four were killed on the spot," DCP Syed Ismail added.

He said police found a Browning Star 9mm pistol loaded with five bullets, another two bullets, three parang, two knives, four ski-masks, four full-face helmets and a bag of clothes in the car.

He added that Jayasilan had been released from Pokok Sena prison in 2007, Rames from the Sungai Petani prison in April, and Sundrakanapathi from Alor Setar prison in February.

Police believe the suspects were responsible for several robbery cases, and house and factory break-ins here and in nearby districts.

--The Star/ANN

VFACTS In September: Who's Hot, Who's Not, And Who Shouldn't Bother

VFACTS SALES RESULTS for September show a market in recovery. Barring any unexpected financial jolts (and anything is possible, like nervousness about interest rates for instance), 2009 sales are likely to end the year just 10 percent down on 2008.

At this point in the year, total sales are down 13.1 percent on last year. However, 2008 sales flattened off markedly in the December quarter.

In the passenger car sector, there are some clear winners and equally clear losers across each of the segments. Of the losers, some of whom have dismal forward prospects, you have to begin to wonder how long they can hold a place in the market.

Light Cars Market Segment

In the Light Cars segment, Hyundai’s Getz is still hot, and getting hotter. Since nudging the Yaris from top spot some months back, it now holds 16.2 percent share of the segment, with 15.7 percent growth year-to-date (YTD). It is well clear of Honda’s Jazz in second spot with 14.1 percent of the segment, and up 13.0 percent YTD.

Following in third place is the Yaris with 12.6 percent share of the segment, but down 27.1 percent YTD, with Mazda2 in fourth spot, down 16.6 percent YTD.

Next is Swift with 10.1 percent share; Barina with 8.7 percent; Fiesta still underperforming with 7.7 percent (but up 26.8 percent YTD), followed by Kia’s Rio with 7.1 percent sales share of the segment.

The big surprise in this segment is Mitsubishi’s capable but neglected Colt, holding a dismal 1.0 percent of the segment, and down 52.4 percent YTD.

Of the others at the bottom of the barrel - and you have to wonder why they bother - are the Proton Satria, with 0.1 percent share of sales in the segment, the Savvy with 0.3 percent, and Smart Fortwo with 0.4 percent.

Small

Toyota’s earnest and redoubtable Corolla still smokes the cigars in the Small Cars segment. It holds onto top spot with 19.6 percent share of sales in the segment, but down 22.5 percent YTD. Closing fast and close behind in position two is the Mazda3 with 19.3 percent share, up 3.6 percent YTD.

Both are well clear of the Lancer in third spot, holding 11.6 percent share, up 2.1 percent YTD. In fourth, and certain to climb higher is Hyundai’s i30 with 10.6 percent share of the segment, but up 101.3 percent YTD.

The Cruze has climbed to fifth spot, but Holden will have been hoping for better, at 7.7 percent segment share, ahead of the Focus with 5.5 percent but which is down 27.1 percent YTD. Golf follows on 5.2 percent, just ahead of Civic on 5.0 percent.

In this segment Kia’s Soul is the big surprise in the underperformance stakes. Holding a desperately disappointing 0.1 percent sales share in the segment, there is a huge message there for Kia Australia about its pricing - like, priced all wrong maybe?

It’s not alone scraping along on the bones of its bum; Volkswagen’s Beetle, the Dodge Caliber, Proton Gen2, Renault Megane, and Fiat Ritmo also each hold just 0.1 percent of the segment. That would appear to be a clear sign that some soul-searching is due.

Medium, under $60k

Creaming them in the Medium Car segment is Toyota’s Camry with 41.7 percent sales share. Although down 15.2 percent YTD, it’s a long way clear of the Mazda6 in second spot with 15.5 percent market share but down 17.1 percent YTD.

Holding third is the Subaru Liberty with 9.8 percent segment share, down 33.3 percent YTD, followed by the Accord Euro with 8.2 percent share, down 6.4 percent YTD. Ford’s excellent Mondeo, and surely certain to climb higher, is in fifth spot with 7.8 percent share, but down 18.7 percent YTD.

Still performing dismally is Holden’s Epica with just 3.4 percent segment share and down 20.7 percent YTD.

Some excellent advertising, and savage discounting, saw the Chrysler brand recover a little in the second quarter, but has now crashed back to earth. The Chrysler Sebring secured just 0.1 percent of the segment, the Dodge Avenger, just 0.2 percent, and the PT Cruiser also just 0.2 percent.

Volvo’s fortunes were equally woeful: the handsome S40 claimed just 0.5 percent of sales in the segment, the S60 also managed just 0.5 percent, the V50, just 0.4 percent, and the V70 just 0.1 percent. (And where in blazes is that overdue white knight from the East who was supposed to ride in to rescue Volvo?)

Medium, over $60k

In the premium medium market segment, Mercedes’ C-Class is dominant with 34.7 percent market share, but down 17.9 percent YTD. Next, in position two, is the BMW 3 Series with 27.1 percent segment share, and up 4.3 percent YTD.

In third spot is the Audi A4 with 18.5 percent share, up 0.8 percent YTD, followed by the Lexus IS 250 with 12.3 percent share of sales, but down 39.2 percent YTD.

Large

Commodore remains the dominant force in the key Large Cars segment with 45.9 percent of sales, down 13.0 percent YTD. Falcon follows with 33.2 percent of sales in the segment, but down just 6.2 percent YTD.

A long way distant (”hello down there”) is Toyota’s underperforming Aurion - it is better than this - with 12.3 percent of the segment and down 34.6 percent YTD. The Accord follows with 6.0 percent segment share, down 22.2 percent.

The mover in this segment is Nissan’s Maxima. Although holding just 2.4 percent of sales in the segment, it’s YTD sales are up 49.4 percent.

Certain to be perplexing Hyundai is the perfectly invisible Grandeur, with just eight sales (yes, eight) and 0.1 percent share of the segment. More than just a make-over might be needed here. (Would that be the soft tapping of the grim reaper at the door…?)

So, there we have it. Any further questions?

New WRC S2000 Cup for Rally New Zealand in 2010

Pictured is the Ford Fiesta S2000 built by M-Sport in testing at M-Sport’s UK base. This and other Super 2000-spec cars are expected at Rally New Zealand in 2010.

With confirmation of Rally New Zealand as the fifth of a 13-round FIA World Rally Championship in 2010 comes the news that the event will also be a round of the inaugural WRC Cup for Super 2000 rally cars.

The Super 2000, or S2000, cars will form the basis of replacement for the current WRC cars from the 2011 season, so it's particularly exciting to see these new models in action in New Zealand next year, says Rally New Zealand general manager Paul Mallard.

"We are thrilled have Rally New Zealand, which runs from May 6 to 9, selected as one of the events of this inaugural world series," says Mallard.

"The Super 2000 cars are the future of world rallying, so it's fantastic to see these cars in action alongside the current WRC stars on the New Zealand roads all rally drivers love."

Ford's rally team, M-Sport, has already began production of the new Ford Fiesta Super 2000 rally car. Based on the Ford Fiesta road car, the team has confirmed this is the vehicle which Ford will use to campaign in the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, replacing the Focus RS WRC.

The S2000 cars run non-turbocharged two-litre engines with a maximum of 8,500rpm rev-limit. At present a number of vehicle manufacturers, including Peugeot, Proton, Fiat, Toyota, VW, Skoda and Ford, have suitable cars in their model line-up. Several of these are already running S2000-spec cars in other rally championships.

Rally New Zealand is also scheduled to be a round of the Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC), says Mallard.

"Along with 10-12 WRC-specification cars run by top manufacturers Ford and Citroën, New Zealand fans can expect to see many exciting young rally stars competing in the production car field. This class is a proving ground for up-and-coming rally competitors driving Group N, two-litre turbocharged, four-wheel-drive cars, not too different to a standard road car and the same car used by our own top competitors in the New Zealand Rally Championship," says Mallard.

"Our drivers have an opportunity to directly compare their own performance on the same stages to those of the P-WRC drivers."

Nine rallies have been specified as P-WRC events and each P-WRC competitor must nominate six of these events, including two outside Europe, in which to earn points for the championship title. With Mexico, Jordan and Japan the other non-European rounds, it's expected strong field of between 12 and 20 P-WRC competitors will compete in Rally New Zealand in 2010.

Rally New Zealand will also count as a round of the 2010 New Zealand Rally Championship. With another 30 or more New Zealand teams also competing as part of the domestic championship, additional offshore entries are expected to take the total field number over 60.

In 2010 Rally New Zealand runs from May 6 to 9 with its home-base in Auckland City and the route taking competitors both north to Whangarei and south to the Franklin and Raglan districts.

2010 FIA World Rally Championship

12-14 February         Sweden 

5-7 March                   Mexico 

2-4 April                      Jordan 

16-18 April                 Turkey 

6-9 May                      New Zealand 

28-30 May                  Portugal 

8-10 July                    Bulgaria (Saturday finish) 

30 July - 1 August    Finland 

20-22 August            Germany 

10-12 September     Japan 

1-3 October                France 

22-24 October           Spain 

12-14 November       Great Britain 

FIA Production Car World Rally Championship

(6 out of 9 events to count, including at least 2 outside Europe)

12-14 February         Sweden 

5-7 March                   Mexico 

2-4 April                      Jordan 

6-9 May                      New Zealand 

30 July - 1 August    Finland 

20-22 August            Germany 

10-12 September     Japan 

1-3 October                France 

12-14 November       Great Britain 

WRC Cup for S2000 teams

(7 out of 10 events to count, including at least 2 outside Europe)

12-14 February         Sweden 

5-7 March                   Mexico 

2-4 April                      Jordan 

7-9 May                      New Zealand 

28-30 May                  Portugal 

30 July - 1 August    Finland 

20-22 August            Germany 

10-12 September     Japan 

1-3 October                France 

12-14 November      Great Britain 

Rulers check out the Proton Campro Turbo engine

A turbocharged Campro engine in an Exora Prestige we saw back in July…

Proton unveiled a turbocharged 1.6 liter engine to selected press in Norwich, UK earlier today while our King and Queen His Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah and Her Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda The Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah were visiting the Lotus headquarters in UK.

The new turbocharged engine is said to have the power capacity of a 2.0 liter engine. No precise figures were given but we can make an educates guess – 2.0 normally aspirated would mean around 140 to 150 horsepower. Usually with a turbocharged engine, a 150 horses figure would probably be accompanied by 220Nm to 240Nm of torque. This should put performance at a similiar level with the turbocharged 1.6 liter in the Peugeot 308 Turbo, which is very nice since the peak torque kicks in at low RPMs.

VIDEO: Bulletin Utama segment on the Proton Turbo engine

Source

70 engineers worked on the engine project. According to Proton, the engine was developed in collaboration between Proton and Lotus Engineering, with active involvement of Malaysian engineers and vendors. I actually so happened to meet a few young Proton engineers at a UK visa application center in KL and they were applying for a UK work visa for a certain project, so this must have been it

Producing the engine took 18 months from approval of engineering proof of concept. The proof of concept could have been that turbocharged engine we saw in the Exora. The engine was designed for high torque applications, which will provide good driveability in larger Proton cars such as the Proton Exora. Proton Director of Engineering Tajul Zahari said the engine is RON95 compatible. Apparently the engine will be ready by 2011, so we should see it in Protons by then.

Malaysia's Proton Should Pull Up Its Socks For Era Of ...

October 02, 2009 15:35 PM

Malaysia's Proton Should Pull Up Its Socks For Era Of Consolidation And Competition

By: Ramjit

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By Manik Mehta

FRANKFURT, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- If signs at the just-concluded International Motor Exhibition of Frankfurt, popularly known by German acronym "IAA", are any indication, Malaysia carmaker Proton needs to pull up its socks and brace for what is described as the onset of an "era of consolidation and competition."

There were predictions at the IAA, the world�s biggest automobile exhibition, seen as a barometer for trends and developments in the automobile industry and global economic health, that consolidation will intensify in the automobile industry and shrink the number of major carmakers to about 10 or 11 automakers instead of 20 at present.

Management consultancy, Deloitte, predicts that by 2020 there will be only 10 carmakers, accounting for some 90 per cent of the world market, down from 18 or 19 per cent at present.

Deloitte expert Hans Rudolf Rohm said consolidation in the car industry would increase transnational cooperation in future.

The global automobile market will grow in coming years from 50 to 70 million cars.

Indeed, Deloitte predicts that consumers will prefer small and energy-efficient cars, with most production shifting to Asia.

What does this portend for Proton which made news in German automobile circles following its aborted tie-up with Volkswagen, Germany's biggest carmaker?

Though it is anybody's guess how Proton will fare in the years ahead, given the shrinking world markets and cash-strapped consumers, Proton will be advised to prepare itself for the onslaught of consolidation; this will mean it could become a prized acquisition object or end in a tie-up with a foreign car manufacturer.

"Devour or be devoured!" was the catchphrase widely heard at the Frankfurt exhibition.

The way out of the cul-de-sac, as many automakers in the future will find themselves in, will lie in augmenting productivity, improving quality and designs, producing fuel-efficient cars and keeping prices as low as possible.

A favourite mantra, though not necessarily a panacea, for many carmakers at Frankfurt was Asia, by which most of them meant China and India or Chindia, to use the hybrid term in vogue.

But it was India, with its well-developed automobile manufacturing base and the sensationally low-priced hi-tech car called "Nano" that stole the show at Frankfurt .

On penetrating the gigantic India market, Proton could take a cue from Volkswagen. which has joined forces with Japanese carmaker, Suzuki which, in turn, has a tie-up with India�s Maruti Group.

VW already has a strong foothold in India and South Asia through Suzuki.

Indian carmakers at the Frankfurt event appeared confident and bullish, buoyed by the unprecedented attention they received at the exhibition.

"By 2016, we want to become the leading automobile nation in Asia," averred Parwan Goenka, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and the top man at India�s fourth largest automobile group "Mahindra".

Goenka predicted that India�s present 50 million strong prosperous middle class with potential to buy luxury cars will further grow in the coming decade.

The turnover volume in India's car market in the coming seven years will rise from US$36 billion to US$115 billion, Goenka claimed.

India, whose mode of transportation in antiquated cars in the past was contemptuously referred to by German industrial circles as the "world�s bullock cart" is now being aggressively courted by German automakers.

Forced by their own financial problems and shrinking demand in the traditional markets of Europe, Japan and the US, German carmakers are desperate to tap the new markets of the so-called BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries.

But India clearly stands out as an attractive manufacturing base with a large and unlimited pool of highly-qualified and English-speaking engineers, scientists and other experts, coupled with a strong, cash-rich middle-class base whose voracious appetite for luxury products, including foreign brand-name cars, exudes considerable pull for German car manufacturers.

As Germany's car industry continues to bleed with declining sales and revenue, more and more German carmakers feel that one "simply cannot bypass the future market India", as the president of the German Automobile Association, Matthias Wissmann, a former minister in former Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government, said at the IAA.

Juggling with figures, Wissmann said at the IAA's India Day seminar that in Germany one out of two Germans drives a car. In India, the ratio is 11 cars to a thousand people.

Wissmann even called for the creation of a free trade zone between the European Union (EU) and India.

Sudhir Vyas, India's Berlin-based Ambassador to Germany, highlighted India's "ambitious plans" for its industry. He said India has plans to move up the ladder from its present position as the world�s 11th largest automobile producer to seventh position by 2016.

Wilfried Aulbur, managing director of Mercedes-Benz India, maintained that India had already "surmounted the worst" in the current global financial and economic crisis.

India,s prosperity and, in effect, the potential for purchasing upper-value cars would further increase, he said.

Studies such as the one prepared by the German consultancy firm "Management Engineers" suggest that the small-car market is the world's second fastest growing market after China.

Management Engineers said the annual growth rate of small cars was between seven and eight cars per 1,000 residents in India.

Small cars currently account for 61 per cent of India's automobile market while vans and sport utility vehicles make up 13 per cent.

But many German experts, familiar with India's woefully inadequate and antiquated infrastructure, complained that India urgently needs to build modern roads and highways to ensure safe driving by high-powered modern cars.

"India's infrastructure needs to be urgently upgraded and modernised. The roads are a pathetic sight and pose a threat for safe driving," remarked Arnold Ratzinger, an automobile consultant engineer who has visited several Asian countries, and runs a consultancy near Stuttgart.

"By comparison, Malaysia's infrastructure is excellent, with a well-developed network of roads and highways as compared with the best in the world," Ratzinger said.

-- BERNAMA

We provide (subscription-based)  news coverage in our Newswire service.

LPG model set to drive Proton UK sales

Proton Cars UK MD Brian Collier showing the LPG conversion fitting neatly into the original design after briefing for Malaysian journalists at the Park Farm Country Hotel & Leisure at Hethersett, Norwich.

�Next year is going to be all about LPG cars and repeat customers,� he told Malaysian journalists at a briefing at the Park Farm Country Hotel & Leisure in Hethersett, Norwich, on Wednesday.

The briefing was organised by Proton Holdings Bhd in conjunction with the royal visit to the Lotus plant headquarters by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuan�ku Mizan Zainal Abidin and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahi�rah today.

A subsidiary of Proton Holdings which acquired Lotus in 1996, Proton UK has sold about 150,000 vehicles in Britain since 1989.

Last year, about 1,500 units were sold through the company�s 80 dealers across Britain but Proton UK has revised its target to 1,000 this year due to the global economic slowdown.

Collier said they sold 150 LPG vehicles last year and expected to hit 200 this year, adding that the Humberside police force has a fleet of 100 such units.

He said these vehicles were sought after by corporate clients including companies with small fleets and taxi operators that now accounted for about half their total sales.

�Britons are very cost-conscious, especially during the economic downturn,� he said, citing petrol price of around �1.10 a litre against 50 to 55 pence for a litre of LPG.

Proton UK, he added, was the only manufacturer in Britain which did not charge extra for the LPG conversion, which usually costs about �2,000.

Collier also singled out the Savvy as Britain�s best-selling Proton car among its models including the Satria, Gen-2 ecoLogic and Gen-2 Persona.

He said Britons loved small economic cars such as the Savvy for fuel economy and its low emission which the annual car tax was based upon.

The Savvy naturally fits into this A and B segments which dominate the British market, he said, adding about 400 Savvy were sold this year alone.

Savvy is priced just under �8,000 but with a �2,000 discount under Britain�s car scrappage scheme, it costs just below �6,000, according to Collier. In fact, some brand new cars are selling for �5,000 or less, an indication of the tough market, with car manufacturers across Europe badly hit, he said.

British vehicle sales had plunged from 2.4 million units two years ago to about 1.7 million this year while Spain was down by nearly 40%.

Collier sees a difficult year ahead, especially with the proposed value-added tax increase and Britain�s plan to double the road tax for new cars next year.

�We need to look at different ways to sell cars, particularly in Britain where almost 50 manufacturers in totally open market conditions are struggling for a market share,� he said.

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Power sources of tomorrow

What would it be like if all the world's cars stopped harmful emissions and all our power needs were met by a single battery a fuel cell that would give us the power to charge our portables as well as provide all the electricity needs for our homes? This is not a dream, as scientists insist that fuel cells are the power sources of the future.

Efficient and environment-friendly power sources have become the need of the day. With growing concerns over Global Warming and depletion of fossil fuels, it has become a necessity to find a technology that will deliver energy efficiently and cleanly. Experts believe that fuel cells can provide an ideal solution to all these concerns. They convert energy more efficiently than conventional power sources such as the internal combustion engine-some of them more than twice as efficiently. Secondly, fuel cells produce almost no pollution.

They also have engineering advantages. Because there are no moving parts inside a fuel cell, there's none of the noise and vibration associated with spinning turbines and moving pistons. That makes fuel cells quiet, and less prone to wear and tear.

Problems remain, however, primarily with cost, reliability and power density-the amount of power fuel cells produce for their volume or mass. They also have to compete with long-established technologies. Vehicles powered by fuel cells could require whole new refueling infrastructures, and all fuel cells will need qualified and trained support staff. Then again, that's what happens when any new technology is introduced.

Although there are many types of fuel cells, they all work in essentially the same way. The basic set-up consists of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte-a substance that conducts electricity. A fuel such as hydrogen, natural gas or methanol enters at one electrode, and an oxidant, usually oxygen from the air, at the other. These undergo a redox reaction across the electrolyte, releasing energy which pushes electrons round an external circuit. Because the fuel doesn't actually burn, fuel cells don't produce the pollutants associated with combustion, such as carbon monoxide, soot and oxides of nitrogen. Cells that use fossil fuels produce water and carbon dioxide as waste products. Cells that use hydrogen generate only water.

To understand in detail how fuel cells work, it's worth considering one type, the proton exchange membrane cell, which is widely regarded as the most promising for light-duty transportation. Here, hydrogen gas flows through channels to the anode, where a catalyst causes the hydrogen molecules to separate into protons and electrons. The membrane allows only the protons to pass through it. While the protons are conducted through the membrane to the other side of the cell, the stream of negatively-charged electrons follows an external circuit to the cathode. This flow of electrons is electricity that can be used to do work, such as power a motor.

On the other side of the cell, oxygen gas, typically drawn from the outside air, flows through channels to the cathode. When the electrons return from doing work, they react with oxygen and the hydrogen protons (which have moved through the membrane) at the cathode to form water. This union is an exothermic reaction, generating heat that can be used outside the fuel cell.

The power produced by a fuel cell depends on several factors, including the fuel cell type, size, temperature at which it operates, and pressure at which gases are supplied. A single fuel cell produces approximately 1 volt or less barely enough electricity for even the smallest applications. To increase the amount of electricity generated, individual fuel cells are combined in series to form a stack. (The term �fuel cell� is often used to refer to the entire stack, as well as to the individual cell.) Depending on the application, a fuel cell stack may contain only a few or as many as hundreds of individual cells layered together. This �scalability� makes fuel cells ideal for a wide variety of applications, from laptop computers (50-100 Watts) to homes (1-5kW), vehicles (50-125 kW), and central power generation (1-200 MW or more).

Some of the PEM cell's main features are its ability to start quickly and to run at moderate temperatures, which means that it does not need to heat up very much in order to run. The PEM fuel cell is compact and lightweight: a big advantage for cars. Furthermore, its maximum efficiency of 60% (energy delivered from hydrogen to motor as electricity) is about 3 times greater than the efficiency of internal combustion engines (most of the energy from combustion is lost in heat and friction before it even pushes down on the pistons).

Fuel cells themselves are very safe. No combustion or detonation takes place, and the only moving parts are those pumping the fuel and oxidant around, so catastrophic failures such as turbine blades breaking or pistons seizing are impossible. However, the main danger-as with today's engines-is the fuel. Hydrogen is combustible in air at a wide range of concentrations, but the flame radiates almost no heat. In a hydrogen-vehicle fire, almost nothing other than the fuel should ignite. In addition, hydrogen disperses very rapidly, and fires burn out more quickly than petrol fires.

Some companies like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mazda, and Ballard Power Systems have already introduced their hydrogen fueled vehicles on the road. Buses powered by PEM fuel cells have been successfully tested in Vancouver and Chicago. Passenger cars in California have being built by Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler in response to California's zero-emission laws.

Fuel cells are also being demonstrated as stationary power sources. A few houses in Japan, Germany and the US use PEM systems to provide electricity and heat. Larger systems are also in operation. A police station in Central Park, New York, relies on a 200-kilowatt phosphoric acid fuel cell to provide its electricity and heating. The system was built by US company International Fuel Cells and cost about $1 million, but that's less than it would have cost to dig up the park and lay electricity cables.

At the moment, cost-reduction and durability enhancement are the two most significant challenges to fuel cell commercialization. Fuel cell systems must be cost-competitive with, and perform as well or better than, traditional power technologies over the life of the system. Ongoing research is focused on identifying and developing new materials that will reduce the cost and extend the life of fuel cell components. Low cost, high volume manufacturing processes will also help to make fuel cell systems cost competitive with traditional technologies

Legislative bodies around the world seem certain to follow California's lead and introduce laws demanding zero-emission vehicles, and this will probably ensure that fuel cells make it into some parts of the transport market in the near future. Although for Bangladesh and other developing nations, it will require some time for the fuel cell technology to commercialise, it is something worth thinking about, considering the rising demand for fuels and their diminishing supplies.

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