China produced 1,170 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles during the first half of 2019 and the country’s automakers are on schedule to produce 2,340 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles this year, compared to 1,527 such vehicles in 2018, and 629 in 2016 and 2017. Over the recent years, the country’s hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle sector experienced very rapid growth, posting an annual growth rate exceeding 100 percent for several consecutive years. With the ongoing build out of the infrastructure and roll-out of the subsidy policy by the central and many local governments, the country is forecast to continue to see positive growth in production volume of the vehicles over the next several years.
Data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that the country sold 1,125 fuel cell vehicles during the first 8 months of this year, a year-over-year increase of 730 percent. The country sold 16.1 million vehicles during the same period, down 11 percent from a year earlier, 629,000 of which were pure electrics. According to data from ZhiYan.org, China produced 888,000 and sold 872,000 EVs during the first 9 months, up 20.9 percent and 20.8 percent year on year, respectively.
Considering the promising prospect of the hydrogen energy and fuel cell sectors, a large number of Chinese companies have started businesses within the sector, including MAXUS, Feichi Bus and Zhongtong Bus. Feichi Bus, the largest hydrogen fuel-cell bus manufacturer in China, produced and processed 314 vehicles during the first half of this year, including 293 EVs. The manufacturer aims to produce 1,000 fuel cell vehicles this year.
Lead image: Foshan Feichi fuel cell bus manufacturing facility (PRNewsFoto/Ballard Power Systems Inc.)
