The bus air conditioning industry is highly dependent on cross-link collaboration—from raw material supply to bus integration, and from performance testing to market application. For manufacturers, building an industry chain with collaborative innovation capabilities is not just a way to reduce R&D risks, but a core driver to accelerate technology iteration and improve market response efficiency, especially in the context of rising demands for low-carbon and intelligent products.
Upstream raw material collaboration lays the foundation for product innovation. We have established long-term partnerships with refrigerant suppliers and lightweight material manufacturers to optimize the core components of CO₂ air conditioning systems. For example, working with a specialty chemical supplier, we developed a high-stability CO₂ refrigerant additive that reduces refrigerant decomposition by 30% under extreme temperatures, solving the problem of system performance degradation in high-heat environments. With aluminum alloy suppliers, we co-developed a high-strength, low-weight casing material that cuts the air conditioning unit’s weight by 18%—a key advantage for extending the range of electric buses.
Midstream collaboration with bus manufacturers is critical for seamless integration. Instead of treating air conditioning as a “post-installed component,” we participate in the early design phase of new bus models. For a leading electric bus manufacturer’s new platform, we jointly designed an integrated cooling system: the air conditioning unit is embedded in the bus’s chassis structure, reducing installation space by 25% and improving heat dissipation efficiency by integrating with the vehicle’s cooling circuit. This collaborative design not only shortens the bus’s production cycle but also reduces post-installation maintenance difficulties for operators.
Downstream cooperation with bus operators ensures market-oriented innovation. We have set up joint R&D teams with several large urban transit companies to collect real operational data: for instance, analyzing passenger flow peaks and temperature preferences to optimize the air conditioning’s intelligent adjustment logic, and tracking road vibration conditions to enhance the unit’s structural durability. This operator-led feedback loop has helped us improve the reliability of our CO₂ air conditioning systems by 22% in urban bus scenarios.
Third-party testing and certification collaboration accelerates market access. We work with international testing institutions to align our products with global standards (such as the EU’s ECE R134a and China’s GB/T standards) early in R&D. By participating in pre-certification testing during the prototype phase, we reduce the time for formal certification by 40%, enabling our CO₂ air conditioning systems to enter European and Southeast Asian markets faster than competitors.
The value of such collaboration is reflected in practical results: a collaborative project with a bus manufacturer and a transit operator resulted in a customized CO₂ air conditioning solution that was adopted in 500 electric buses within 6 months of launch, with operator satisfaction reaching 92% due to its energy efficiency and reliability.
Looking ahead, as the industry moves toward “whole-vehicle carbon footprint management,” we will further expand collaboration to include carbon accounting service providers—jointly developing a carbon emission calculation model for bus air conditioning systems, from production to end-of-life. By deepening industry chain synergy, we aim to build a more efficient, low-carbon innovation ecosystem, driving the entire bus air conditioning industry toward higher-quality development.
