Hydrogen fuel-cell support from China

Policy has been set out by China to support the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

The move by the Finance Ministry of China has been made to improve technology around the concept as well as the supply chain associated with it.

It follows a low take-up of hydrogen vehicles in the country, which is one of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturers. Currently China has more than 4 million EVs and hybrids but only 7,000 hydrogen vehicles.

The new policies are different to previous financial measures with alternative fuel and energy vehicle manufacturers offered subsidy models against sales, whereas now local government and businesses will be offered cash to build a supply chain and overall model for the whole hydrogen industry.

The Chinese government will offer local authorities and business parterns funding to projects following an assessment of a scheme’s ability to: lower the price of hydrogen fuel, increase charging stations, grow vehicle fleets and improve overall technologies.

Manufacturers including Hyundai and Toyota have already announced plans for hydrogen vehicles in China. Globally, the market is valued at £1.382bn in 2019 and is projected to reach £4.1bn by 2026.

It has been predicted by 2021 most vehicle manufacturers will have started to make electric fuel cell vehicles with Honda, Daimler and BMW also developing technology which releases water vapour and heat.

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