China's National Science and Technology Award Conference was held at Great Hall of People in Beijing on January 8, 2016. The Energy-saving and New Energy Bus Key Technologies Research & Development and Industrialization Project led by Yutong won 2015 National Science and Technology Progress Second Award thanks to the enormous social and economic returns generated by the newly developed technologies. China's Primetime News, which broadcasts at 7 pm everyday, made a full coverage of the high-profile event. Yutong, as the sole representative of China's new energy vehicle industry took an interview in the report.

In 2015, the national science and technology progress award fully demonstrates Chinese government's emphasis on the application of technological advances to national strategic projects. "Our hybrid buses can cut the emissions of nitrogen oxides by 90% and PM2.5 by 95%, which can greatly help urban areas improve the air quality in the city," Li Gaopeng, Deputy Technical Director of Yutong tells the reporter.

Some bus experts points out that China's new energy vehicle industry is still facing a host of challenges, including over reliance on the import of some key spare parts, low integration rate, high production costs, short life-expectancies of power batteries, low adaptability, low energy utilization rate and short continuous driving capacity. They also feel encouraged by Yutong's new breakthroughs made in three key areas in the energy-saving and new energy bus sector thank to the bus maker's relentless efforts in developing new technologies in the past decade. They note that the remarkable progress made by Yutong will further push the popularization of electric, hybrid and plug-in buses.

According to Yutong, its new technological achievements made in 2015 have been introduced to the whole spectrum of its energy-saving and new energy bus products, ranging from six-meter to 18-meter in length. Having won 112 product announcements, Yutong is now well positioned to meet bus operators' specific demands for urban public transportation, airport passenger transportation, business reception, and a number of other market segments. As of October 2015, Yutong sold 23,796 units energy-saving and new energy buses, all of which help bus operators save fuel by 93 million liters and cut gas consumption by 200 million Nm3 each year. In other words, these eco-friendly vehicles help Yutong's customers save fuel costs by 1.4 billion RMB, help cut carbon emissions by 640,000 tons and PM2.5 by 790,000 tons each year.