China-based Great Wall Motors (GWM) released its hydrogen energy strategy. GWM says it will build an international supply chain ecology integrating hydrogen “production-storage-transportation-refueling-application”; break barriers on core technologies ;and connect the downstream industry chain, accelerating the commercial popularization of hydrogen energy.

The hydrogen energy strategy of GWM covers both the international hydrogen supply chain and hydrogen power systems meeting vehicle regulations.

GWM will attach equal importance to commercial vehicles and passenger cars to promote technological and industrial development through scene exploration and accelerate product realization.

This year, GWM will launch a fuel-cell SUV and take the lead in implementing the application project of 100 49-ton hydrogen energy heavy trucks in the world, said Zhang Tianyu, Chairman of GWM FTXT.

2022 will see the first service fleet of high-end passenger cars on the arena of the Olympic Winter Games; in 2023, we will become a leader domestically in terms of the number of core power components promoted; we will ride into top three in global hydrogen market share by 2025.

—Zhang Tianyu

Based upon the R&D of core components and technology of the downstream of the hydrogen energy industry, GWM has been taking a product-oriented approach to explore the core material joint cooperation mode upstream and upgrade product applications downstream.

GWM will plunge another RMB 3 billion (US$457 million) into the hydrogen energy R&D sector to reach the production capacity of 10,000 units. Meanwhile, GWM is hiring personnel and poolingforeign experts from Europe, America, Japan, and other countries with over ten years of experience in hydrogen energy technology R&D, to create the largest hydrogen energy technology R&D team at home. GWM has also built a global R&D system covering four countries and five regions, laying a solid foundation for the breakthrough of core hydrogen energy technology.

Currently, GWM has been completely independent in intellectual property rights of the six core technologies and products of stack and core components; fuel cell engines and components (controllers, etc.); hydrogen storage cylinders; high-pressure hydrogen storage valves; hydrogen safety; and liquid hydrogen.

GWM is part of four demonstration pilot city clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, Henan, and Hebei. More than 1,000 demonstration vehicles are planned, involving multiple application scenarios such as passenger cars, heavy trucks, logistics, public transport, ships, and rail transit.

GWM’s Hydrogen-L.E.M.O.N. Technology is the core technology of GWM’s hydrogen energy strategy and one of the core technical routes of GWM’s L.E.M.O.N. platform, covering hydrogen fuel cell system, on-board hydrogen storage system, and key components. It can be summarized as “1+3+5”, namely 1 complete R&D system meeting the vehicle regulations, 3 technology platforms, and 5 performance advantages.

The HE, HS, and HP technology platforms constitute the core of the Hydrogen L.E.M.O.N. Technology. Among them, the HE platform is reliable, durable, and safe, with strong environmental adaptability, high power, and high power density. For the HS platform, the first generation of single fuel cell metal-plate stack has been developed, with the rated power of 150 kW, the peak power of 160 kW, and the power density up to 4.2 kW/L. The HP platform involves 70 MPa IV hydrogen storage cylinders, 70 MPa cylinder valves, and pressure reducing valves, as well as the integration and control of the hydrogen storage system.

In the next five years, GWM will focus on fuel cell system to strive for high power (> 200 kW), high efficiency (> 60%), high temperature (> 100°C), high durability (> 20,000h), and high interconnection (new energy + intelligent network).

—Chen Xuesong, president of GWM FTXT

GWM says it has achieved substantial breakthroughs in the fuel cell system, stack, membrane electrode, air compressor, hydrogen circulation system, hydrogen storage system, and key components in core technologies and key links of the hydrogen energy industry value chain, supporting the real realization of high-efficiency, high-performance, long-endurance, and all-weather driving and full-field application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.