With the further clarification of China's strategic intention to develop the hydrogen energy industry and the rapid expansion of the fuel cell vehicle market, the pace of foreign fuel cell forces entering the domestic market has accelerated significantly, and it has shifted from the initial market cultivation to the stage of large-scale investment and construction of production lines. More typical are Bosch, Cummins, Toyota, Hyundai, EKPO and so on. Newville is also considering additional investments based on market orders.
From the perspective of the progress of these enterprise projects, they are basically scheduled to be completed and put into production this year or next year, and the project landing point is also a more active area for the demonstration application of domestic fuel cell vehicles; from the perspective of fuel cell types, Toyota, Hyundai, Newville, and EKPO all use metal plate stacks. In this situation, the upstream supplier metal plate manufacturer Faintur from abroad, and the PVD vacuum coating technology company Impact Coatings have also begun to deploy in China. These will accelerate the application process of sheet metal stacks in China.
Here are the details of the layout of Bosch, Cummins, Newville, Toyota, Hyundai, and EKPO:
Bosch
With the rapid development of China's hydrogen energy and fuel cell market, Bosch launched a targeted layout and set up the Bosch China Hydrogen Fuel Cell Center in Wuxi High-tech Zone in 2019, mainly focusing on research and development of fuel cells. The center has been officially put into use in March 2021, integrating forward-looking research, engineering development, industrialization capabilities of small batches of products, and has the ability to test from key components to the whole system.
In December 2020, Bosch signed a joint venture agreement with Qingling Motors, a well-established domestic manufacturer of high-end commercial vehicles, in Chongqing. The new company is responsible for the development, application, assembly, sales and service of fuel cell systems, of which Bosch holds 60% of the shares and Qingling holds 40% of the shares. The joint venture was formally established in March 2021 as Bosch Hydrogen Power Systems (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. In August 2021, the first commercial vehicles equipped with Bosch hydrogen powertrains were officially delivered and put into use.
In December 2021, the groundbreaking ceremony of bosch Qingling fuel cell engine project was held in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing. The project is jointly built by Bosch (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and Qingling Motors, the project will be distributed and implemented, the total investment is expected to reach 2.4 billion yuan, will build Bosch hydrogen fuel national first R & D center, national fuel cell engine production base, national hydrogen energy commercial vehicle production base. The project is expected to be delivered by the end of May 2023.
On March 23, 2022, the Bosch China Domestic Freight Forwarders Forum was held in Chongqing through a combination of online and offline. After the forum, Qingling, Bosch and COSCO Group signed a letter of intent for the purchase of 50 hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, and signed a hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicle purchase agreement with Haotong Group: Qingling will deliver the first batch of 6 hydrogen fuel cell logistics vehicles for the daily logistics and transportation work of Haotong Group Chongqing Branch in the southwest region.
Cummins
In the long chain of hydrogen energy, Cummins focuses on the research and development and manufacturing of core equipment or components such as electrolyzed water hydrogen production equipment and its core components, high-pressure hydrogen storage cylinder system, PEM fuel cell, SOFC fuel cell, HICE hydrogen combustion engine, etc., and tailor-made the whole industry chain and multi-technical route solution of "production, storage, transportation, processing and use" for the Chinese market and users.
Cummins East Asia R&D Center was officially launched in 2006. In order to better promote the development of R&D strength, the new base project of Cummins East Asia R&D Center was launched in January 2020 in Wuhan Economic Development Zone, and is expected to be completed and put into use in 2022, which will include a new energy power R&D building equipped with the latest fuel cell laboratory, power battery laboratory, transmission system laboratory, and wheel hub laboratory.
In May 2021, Cummins Wuhan Hydrogen Energy Engineering Center was officially opened, which is the first engineering center for the hydrogen energy business of Cummins New Energy Division in China. The center has the functions of fuel cell engine trial production, hydrogen pipeline trial production, hydrogen-related parts testing and fuel cell performance testing.
In September 2021, Cummins (China) Investment Co., Ltd. signed an investment agreement with the Shanghai Lingang New Area Management Committee to jointly promote the landing of Cummins Hydrogen China Headquarters in Lingang. The project will build Cummins Hydrogen Energy China headquarters, new energy R & D center and manufacturing base, covering electrolyzed water hydrogen equipment stacks, fuel cell engines and their core components, high-pressure hydrogen storage bottle systems and other businesses, the project plans to achieve an output value of 10 billion yuan, to build Cummins hydrogen energy in China hydrogen energy industry value chain map. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be put into operation by the end of 2022.
Newville
As early as the 1980s, The core technical team of Newwiller began to explore the field of fuel cells, and was one of the first teams in the world to carry out fuel cell research and development. In 2000, they incorporated Newville Corporation in Massachusetts, USA. In 2014, the company was acquired by HYG, a global leader in the forklift industry. After decades of special research and accumulation, Newville has achieved fruitful results. The company has 803 patents (including pending), of which 522 are international patents. Its fuel cell is based on the earliest use of metal plates, open flow field design, known for durability and low cost, with assembly plants and test centers in the United States and Italy.
As China has become the world's largest fuel cell vehicle market in recent years, many international leading companies have devoted themselves to the layout. Neville was one of the first international leaders to set its sights on the Chinese market and took action in China. In 2019, Newwille registered and established Newwille Fuel Cell (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. in China, and in the same year, it cooperated with its partner Zhejiang Runfeng to complete the commissioning of the vehicle for the 10.5-meter bus of Xiamen Golden Travel, and completed the certification announcement in August 2020; in October 2020, Newwille Fuel Cell Power Solution E-60 was certified by the China National Motor Vehicle Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center.
Yu Jianguang, head of sales at Newville China, revealed: "At present, we have three application projects in China, namely backup power supply, bus and logistics vehicle. Customers trust the stability of our product performance, are satisfied with the service, and the project will soon be implemented. Newwiller and its parent company, Hyster Group, are taking the Chinese market first. In the face of China's fuel cell vehicle market in 2022, we are full of confidence and look forward to a major breakthrough in the market. ”
In terms of after-sales service, Hyster Yale Group, the parent company of Newville, has been working in China for many years and has a perfect after-sales service network to help respond quickly to customer needs. With the growth of orders in the Chinese market, The next step is that Newwiller will consider additional investment in China.
Toyota
According to the data, Huafeng Fuel Cell was registered in June 2021, which is a company for the production and promotion of self-developed fuel cell systems established by Toyota and Yihuatong, with Toyota and Yihuatong each accounting for 50% of the shares. Founded in August 2020, United Fuel Cell is a cooperative R&D platform jointly established by Toyota and Yihuatong, as well as FAW, BAIC, Dongfeng, GAC and other car companies, which account for 65%, 15%, 5%, 5%, 5% and 5% of the shares in turn.
The two companies have their own division of labor: Huafeng Fuel Cell is responsible for opening up the closed loop of production and sales; Joint Fuel Cell focuses on technology research and development, and carries out a series of core technology research and development work such as component technology, fuel cell system control technology, vehicle loading technology and so on to meet the needs of the Chinese market.
In October 2021, Huafeng Fuel Cell began selling the first fuel cell system "TL Power 100" developed and produced for commercial vehicles in China. The product achieves the industry's top 711W/kg, 4.9kW/L high power density (rated power 101kW) and 30,000 hours of ultra-long durability.
The latest news, Huafeng fuel cell and joint fuel cell will be settled in Beijing Economic Development Zone, of which the Toyota Fuel Cell R & D Center project was selected as a key project in Beijing in 2022. Toyota's fuel cell R&D and production project will start construction in the Economic Development Zone, build fuel cell production lines, testing lines and R&D centers, carry out R&D work related to fuel cell systems, produce fuel cell system products, and expect the expected production capacity to reach 10,000 units after being put into operation.
nowadays
In December 2019, the Guangdong Provincial Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hyundai Motor Group. At the beginning of 2021, Hyundai Motor Group signed an investment cooperation agreement with the Guangzhou Development Zone Government to establish Hyundai Electric Hydrogen Fuel Cell System (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., and officially started construction of "HTWO Guangzhou" in Guangzhou Development Zone in March, 100% owned by Hyundai Motor Group, and the total investment is expected to reach 8.5 billion yuan (including factory operating expenses) by 2030.
"HTWO Guangzhou" covers an area of 207,000 square meters and is expected to be officially completed in the second half of 2022. It will be built into a comprehensive base including a hydrogen fuel cell system production plant, an R&D center, and an innovation center. The plant plans to produce 6,500 units per year and will expand production and supply capacity in a timely manner according to the needs of the Chinese market and policies. After completion, the plant will mainly produce hydrogen fuel cell systems suitable for NEXO and sell them to customers in various hydrogen energy application scenarios in China, and Hyundai Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. is mainly responsible for the sales of NEXO in China.
In December 2021, Hyundai Motor Group and Guangzhou Hengyun Group signed an intention to purchase the NEXO Chinese version of the SUV dedicated to hydrogen fuel cells, and Guangzhou Hengyun Group plans to purchase Hyundai Motor's first hydrogen fuel cell passenger car NEXO that complies with Chinese regulations.
EKPO
EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies GmbH is a joint venture between Elring Klinger (60%) and Plastic Omnium (40%). EKPO's suzhou branch has established a 1,000-square-meter test laboratory and hydrogen refueling station with an initial investment of about 15 million yuan. The commissioning of the first fuel cell test bench has been completed and can test stacks up to 150 kW and can be upgraded to 250 kW in mid-year.
Based on China's clear trend of hydrogen energy travel, after successive successes and very positive feedback from fuel cell projects with local customers, EKPO decided to further invest in the construction of a semi-automatic fuel cell stack assembly line at its Suzhou plant in the third quarter of 2022, with an initial annual production capacity of about 800 units by the end of 2022.