Shanghai (ZXZC)- Geely Auto and Guangdong Institute of Microbiology (GDIM) jointly unveiled on April 10 a microbiology laboratory, signifying the in-depth cooperation between them in building a strains library of car's indoor microbial data, the first-of-its-kind to China's auto industry.

The automaker said it will team up with GDIM to comprehensively study the species, the biochemical properties and distribution laws of microorganisms, form the industrial leadership of strains library in such areas as the culture coverage, the dedicated research and relevant scheme making, and continue to move forward with the formulation and upgrade of industrial standards.

After the launch of the joint laboratory and the strains library, Geely Auto and GDIM will make joint efforts to monitor and control the risks existing in every link along the automobile industrial chain and improve the capability in managing product security risks.

In terms of the development of antibacterial product, microbiological testing service and pertinent information consultation, both parties will deepen their cooperation by sharing the cutting-edge academic achievements and latest news in the microbiology realm at home and abroad. They also plan to jointly evaluate some hot topics associated with the in-car bacteria and analyze relevant data.

Moreover, the automaker will partner with GDIM to foster talents for the automobile-related microbiology domain.

The conventional car-mounted air purification systems mainly focus on preventing air particulate matters. Perhaps, the “anti-virus” would become the standard features for future vehicles as both consumers and automakers require more and higher in vehicle's safety facilities due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Geely took the earliest action on such business after the epidemic erupted. In early Feb., the automaker said all of its future vehicles would be equipped with Geely's G-Clean Intelligent Air Purification System (IAPS), a new system that is able to automatically filter out harmful particulates from the vehicles internal air environment.

Besides, the IAPS is also equipped with a negative ion generator that can sterilize and deodorize in vehicle pollutants, and aim to remove airborne viruses, bacteria, fungi, and molds, etc, achieving the same level of air filter as an N95 respiration system. The R&D is carried out under the Geely Healthy Car program, in which Geely would move to invest RMB 370 million initially.

Moreover, the ICON, Geely's second BMA-based model that hit the market on Feb. 24, is the first mass-produced model carrying the automotive-grade “CN95” air filter—“C” is the abbreviation of “Car” and “N95” means the air filter can filter out 95% of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of or above 0.3μm. Currently, CATARC Huacheng Certification (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. is the only authority in China that has the right to do the “CN95” certification (photo source: Geely Auto's WeChat account).