The homegrown snowboard waxing vehicle Photo:Courtesy of Shandong Sports Industry Group

China's first self-developed snowboard waxer vehicle made its debut at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which filled a gap among Chinese winter sports equipment and assisted Chinese athletes during the games. 

The snowboard waxing vehicle uses multiple advanced technologies, including hydrogen power sources, photovoltaic power generation, 5G communication, live broadcast and bionic light sources for waxers and athletes, according to the developer.

The vehicle has the largest usable area among similar products worldwide of 92.5 square meters, with 21 meters in length and 10 meters in width. It is also said to be the world's most functional snowboard waxing vehicle, as it can work in many areas, including during athletes' warm-ups, storage, shower rooms, toilets and elevators for disabled athletes.

Snowboards of skiing athletes need to be waxed in order to ensure speed when they are racing. The vehicle is a mobile waxing workshop that can be deployed at any location to support athletes during training or formal games.

Though it made its debut at the Winter Games, the vehicle has been used by China's skiing team for a while. 

Developed by a research group initiated by East China's Shandong Province government and combined with multiple local departments and sports equipment providers, the vehicle was officially handed over to the Chinese national skiing team at the end of October 2021. 

Then it was quickly put into use in the training program and formal games of the Chinese national cross-country skiing team in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions.

It also participated in the national skiing team's activities in North China's Hebei Province and in Shanghai before the Beijing 2022 games, said as staff from Shandong Sports Industry Group, one of the member companies of the research group. 

He told the Global Times on Monday that the machine has traveled 15,000 kilometers.

In another key technological achievement, the vehicle's heating system can maintain the inner temperature of the vehicle between 15-25 C even if the outside temperature falls down to -50 C. 

Global Times