CHINESE auto makers are going from strength to strength since China surpassed the United States as the world's biggest car market last year.

And while overseas competitors may be green with envy, Chinese car makers are seeing green themselves as they position themselves in the race to develop eco-friendly hybrid and electric cars.

Could China really become the world leader in the field? It's possible but it won't be easy.

Looking back over the history of automobile development, mass production helped the United States replace Europe as the world's auto-making heartland. Then Japan entered the fray and caught up with its lower production costs.

Now the industry's evolution is moving on toward more eco-friendly cars, is providing great opportunities for emerging countries, industry watchers and experts said at the Global Auto Forum in Chengdu in September.

"China's large market potential, government support and comparatively low price base may help domestic auto makers compete and even surpass foreign rivals in the electric car sector," said Wang Beili, chief executive officer of the China Automobile Association.

Chinese car makers have certainly shown their prowess for great leaps forward in the past decade - 13-year-old domestic auto maker Geely took over 83-year-old Volvo. Seven-year-old BYD debuted the plug-in hybrid F3DM this year, one year ahead of rivals from both home and abroad. Great Wall Motors began exporting cars to Europe only seven years after its first vehicle rolled off the production line.

The challenge now is to repeat the miracle in the realm of electric cars. It's a race where China is pretty much at the same starting line as overseas auto makers.

Powering cars by battery isn't exactly a new idea. Way back in the early 20th century, one-third of vehicles on the streets of New York, Chicago and Boston were powered by batteries. Battery makers were eager to plunge into auto-making, just like BYD did more recently, but what was cutting edge technology in that day failed to find a commercial market due to higher costs, slower speeds, long charging times and shorter driving ranges.

Pitfalls remain

Those limitations have dogged the development of electric cars for decades, and they still pose pitfalls today. Industry insiders said the technology for mass production of hybrid and electric cars still hasn't been perfected.

Xiao Guopu, vice president of SAIC Motor Corp, the country's second-largest auto maker, admitted there is still some technology gap between domestic makers and foreign counterparts.

"Basic auto parts and overall auto performance are relatively weak compared with foreign makers," said Xiao. "In particular, the advantages of foreign brands will show in terms of long-term use."

He admitted his company's Roewe 550 hybrid compact sedan sourced electric motor from Siemens, while batteries came from US A123 Systems. SAIC has reportedly been in talks with BYD, South Korean and other foreign battery manufacturers.

Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, agreed.

"There is still much to be learned from global giants in the electric car sector," said Wei, citing the example of battery technology. The battery is one of the most important components in electric cars and most of the bottlenecks involve the battery performance and longevity.

Batteries made by leading global manufacturers can be charged 3,000 times, while those developed by Chinese makers, only 2,000 times, before they have to be replaced at a large cost.

China's auto makers are counting on Chinese government financial support to develop, manufacture and popularize electric cars.

China plans to invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) to speed up the commercialization of new-energy vehicles. The nation is aiming to have 500,000 green cars on the roads by 2012.

Since June, subsidies of up to 60,000 yuan are available to buyers who purchase electric cars, and a maximum of 50,000 yuan is offered to those who purchase plug-in hybrids.

The subsidies initially were offered on a trial basis in five cities: Shanghai, Changchun, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hefei.

Local governments have also joined the effort, setting ambitious targets for wider deployment of green cars.

Technology aside, the hardest part of the green car revolution is convincing consumers to buy them.

My friend Chris Hu, a 25-year-old engineer at an auto joint venture, is a car enthusiast. But his zeal stops short of electric cars. At present he drives a Toyota Camry.

"Why would I buy the Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius at a price equivalent to a Mercedes-Benz C-Class?" Hu said. "At that price, I wouldn't be getting the same high performance in a car."

Not sinking in

He did the calculations. Even with the subsidies, a BYD plug-in hybrid F3DM would cost 50,000 yuan more than the average gasoline-driven BYD F3. It costs 42 yuan to drive a BYD F3 100 kilometers, compared with 9 yuan for the same distance by the hybrid. That means you have to drive 161,200 kilometers, or nearly 10 years, to even out the price difference.

The eco-friendly message trumpeted at the Copenhagen Conference on climate change and in the movie "2012" just hasn't sunk in yet with people like Hu, even though their comfortable incomes and higher education suggest they would be a prime consumer group for purchasing clean energy cars.

BYD said it sold less than 20 F3DM hybrids in July, after the cars debuted in Shenzhen.

Foreign counterparts aren't faring much better. The Toyota Prius, the world's most popular hybrid with global sales over 2.68 million units at the end of July, sold less than 4,000 units since they were introduced in China four years ago.

Nick Shen, another friend of mine who is 30 years old, said he would like to know more about electric cars - the maintenance and repair kind of things.

"I have many concerns," Shen said. "I may consider buying an electric car after all my questions are answered."

Of the 13.6 million passenger cars sold in China last year, only about 1,000 were electric or hybrid electric cars.

Still, auto makers are keen to jump on the green bandwagon. General Motors will launch the Chevrolet Volt electric car in China at the end of next year. Nissan plans to unveil its Leaf plug-in electric car here in 2012.?Domestic auto makers Chery Automobile Co and Zhejiang Geely Holding will roll out electric cars this year, while Great Wall Motor Co Ltd will begin trial sales of its electric cars in 2011. In the past five years, Great Wall Motor invested 3 billion yuan in research and development of green technologies.