RE: Beijing imposes car ban...I, too, have been to Beijing and Xi'an in 2005 for a couple months. I agree that the air pollution is, at most times, terrible. But in terms of sources, I believe the motor vehicle contributes about as much pollution there as it does here on a population density basis (Beijing having a Metropolitan population of about 12 million and Xi'an having 8 million).
The other sources - industrial, agricultural, et al - contribute far more pollution. Farmers in the countryside burn their corn stalks to return nutrients to the earth which creates huge amounts of smoke and therefore airborne particulate.
Air pollution standards are about 50-60 years behind North America. The good thing here is the technology to turn things around faster than the West did is available.
The bicycle culture in big cities in China is predominant. I think the only thing keeping e-bikes from taking off is product and electricity costs. Remember, in Beijing the average yearly income is 25,000 yuan or about 3,500 U.S. dollars (in 2007.) A ¥3,000 bike is a significant investment for a good majority of the bicycle users.
The car ban in the story you quote seems like a good idea. Post-Olympic restrictions on car use is a good step but this ban is only a temporary 6-month trial. Don't think that after a little while things won't return to the way they were before the Olympics tried to change Chinese people's behaviour - like queuing for a bus or peeing in public.
ZPP is still a young company and .70 cents (or lower?) is an excellent entry price.
Mr_Speedway
(IMO is redundant - of course it's In My Opinion, otherwise I wouldn't have expressed it!)