Marco Loglio

Futian District is famous for the Huaqiangbei electronics market — one of the biggest of its kind in the world — which is visited every day by tens of thousands of buyers from all over the world.

But few people are aware that besides computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices, just a few blocks away from the sprawling market is a company specializing in high-energy-density battery packs for electric vehicles (EV).

I’m a senior engineer and consultant for this high-tech company, which achieved a world record for the range of a street-legal EV in November 2012 by traveling more than 800 km on one charge, from Shenzhen to Nanning at highway speeds. It was the first time that China had achieved a world record in EV batteries, which represent advanced technology and electric systems for future green transportation. The feat was achieved thanks to batteries that were made of lithium and new materials and developed by the Futian company.

One of the most exciting things for me is driving my street-legal electric car on Futian roads every day, testing its performance and recording technical data given by the sophisticated battery management system that was designed and installed by my Italian colleagues.

Every day, I charge the car’s batteries in the garage of my building. This is not a problem, as many people might believe. Just call the China Southern Power Grid company and, in a few days, specialized technicians will equip your garage with an electric outlet from which you can charge your car. The installation and electric device are free and I pay just a few yuan a day for electricity.

I have another charging point in a garage at Huaqiang Plaza, near my office, so I’m never worried about power problems. In fact, my car also has never run out of power because it has a range of more than 600 km on one charge.

I feel really amazed when driving around the city without creating any noise or pollution and am proud of myself for contributing to the reduction of emissions that pollute the air we breathe every day.

While driving, I have to regularly check the car’s SOC (state of charge) and see the differences in performance under different weather conditions and temperatures. Every day, I record the data in my computer. The data will be used to better understand the behavior of cars that will be available to the general public in the near future.

I’m not the only one who drives an EV in the city. There are more than 800 electric taxis and more than 200 electric buses in Shenzhen, significantly reducing harmful emissions. The city expects to have a fleet of 1,000 electric buses by the end of this year.

Shenzhen has the ability to have more public vehicles powered by clean electric energy than any other city in the world. We are just in the beginning of a transportation revolution that will play an increasingly important role in making our future sustainable. Futian will be a hub in the green transportation revolution and a pioneer in battery technologies that are already in high demand from the most advanced carmakers and green transportation organizations worldwide.

(Marco Loglio has lived in Shenzhen for more than 10 years and is CTO (chief technology officer) at Vantage Power Global. Loglio has published a number of articles in Shenzhen Daily calling for the protection of historic buildings on Dapeng Peninsula and for the use of green transportation. He is also interested in culture and tourism and once took Shenzhen officials to Italy, where the Shenzhen delegation met representatives of Italy’s Ministry of Tourism. In 2010, he published “Shenzhen Hikes,” a guide for hiking expatriates. )