Alcoa, Yutong to build aluminum buses in China

Pittsburgh's Alcoa (NYSE: AA) said today that it formed a partnership with Beijing-based Zhengzhou Yutong Bus to build lightweight, aluminum buses.

The companies expect the energy efficient, environmentally friendly buses to be ready to roll in China in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

"We realize that reducing the weight of tomorrow's short- and long-range buses will be essential for improving their sustainability," said Tang Yuxiang, chairman and CEO of Yutong, "and that the intelligent application of aluminum is one of best methods possible to achieve such mass reduction."

The companies said the new buses will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy.

Alcoa and Yutong point to a recent study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Germany, which claimed that a weight reduction of 100 kilograms in a diesel-powered city bus will save 2,550 liters of fuel and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetime of the bus.

"Our goal, of course, is to work with Yutong to achieve significantly more than 100 kilogram weight reduction per vehicle," said Jinya Chen, Alcoa's president for the Asia-Pacific Region.

The companies said they believe that through the combination of aluminum spaceframe design and manufacturing technologies, they can achieve 15 to 20 percent weight reductions, while maintaining the safety and enhancing the sustainability performance of the buses.