Electrification may be the rage, but automakers aren’t forgetting the alternative called the hydrogen fuel-cell. Great Wall is one of them. The Chinese carmaker has outlined plans to become a major fuel-cell vehicle player globally, and said it would be introducing its first hydrogen fuel-cell SUV later this year.
The announcement of the unspecified model – which will make its way into the market alongside a fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered heavy trucks – was made at an event earlier this week, Reuters reports. According to Great Wall chairman Wei Jianjun, the company is set to invest three billion yuan (RM1.9 billion) in hydrogen-related technologies over the next three years to push things along.
He added that the plan to move into hydrogen was decided around five years ago, and is being encouraged by the shrinking cost of solar power. It is also aided by supportive policies for FCVs that were introduced by the Chinese government last year.
Despite the foray into hydrogen, the automaker remains committed to electrification. It currently has the affordable Ora electric brand and is also building an EV factory with BMW in China, and Wei said Great Wall would have a battery manufacturing capacity of at least 200 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2023. The company is also reportedly set to collaborate with Xiaomi to build the latter’s EVs.
At the event, Wei also revealed upcoming plans for the company’s Wey and Tank sub-brands. He said that eight new models are being planned under the Wey marque to compete against the likes of Toyota and Volkswagen, while the newly-launched Tank brand will see the debut of five models. He however did not offer a timeframe for their introduction.
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Hydrogen fuel cells could be a viable alternative to rechargeable chemical batteries if there is practical efficient way of mass producing hydrogen from electrolysis (splitting of water molecules). Currently, hydrogen is being commercially produced mostly from natural gas and coal.
Liquid hydrogen safety issue, many cases of ignorant human species miss using hydrogen as helium to inflate balloons with disastrous outcome of burn injuries or mortality.
It’s been already more than 80 years since the Hindenberg airship incident, and since then, there had been progress in the safe handling of hydrogen and other flammable gases like butane, propane & methane. Do have a look at the available online articles which compare the fire damage of hydrogen and methane (natural gas) powered vehicles with that of gasoline powered vehicles.
This bodes well for Go Auto local manufacturer of GWM and Haval in Gurun. Me local Kedah boy wished them Best of luck!
Filling up an almost empty hydrogen tank for a fuel-cell powered car is very much faster than to fully charge up an almost depleted battery bank in a battery powered car.
Sarawak has pilot project to build hydrogen refilling station across all region within state. The first plant completed in 2019 is now supplying hydrogen gas to bus fleet of Sarawak Metro and Hyundai Nexo of Sarawak Energy Bhd and government. It’s an initiative to introduce new technology and hopefully to explore benefits of it.
The process of technology evolution always go through introduction, adaptation and slowly mass consumption. Will require funding by goverment to build more refilling stations and incentives to buy fuel cell electric vehicles.
Government should explore the benefits of fuel cell technology and business potential for manufacturing the equipment.
Where is the Kuala Selangor based professor, one of the 7 person in the world that holds key technology in hydrogen vehicle?