An electric air compressor is a necessity for all electric buses with an air brake system. Air brake compressors used in traditional vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine. SORL’s electric air brake compressors are powered by an electric motor, thereby increasing fuel conservation and reducing pollution. The new compressors also offer an extended life span.

The new compressors have completed all quality and performance tests and are currently being evaluated by major electric bus manufacturers, according to SORL.

WABCO Vehicle Control Systems—founded in the US in 1869 as Westinghouse Air Brake Company and now a leading Belgium-based global supplier of technologies and control systems for heavy commercial vehicles—also offers an electric air brake compressor: the E-Comp electrically-driven compressor.

China’s State Council issued the “energy-saving and new energy automotive industry development plan (2012-2020)” directive identifying that pure electric drive is the main strategic orientation of new energy vehicles. (Earlier post.) SORL’s mission is to help industrialize pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, promote and popularize non-plug-in hybrid vehicles, and enhance energy-saving combustion engine vehicles, to increase the overall technological level of China’s automotive industry.

According to the plan, by 2015, the cumulative production and sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will reach 500,000 units. By 2020, the production capacity of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles will reach 2 million units, while cumulative production and sales are expected to exceed 5 million units. Development of battery-powered and hydrogen-powered technologies will increase with the growing acceptance of new-energy vehicles globally.