Hyundai Motors establishes hydrogen fuel cell production plant in China

Input 2021.01.05 09:27

Hyundai Motor Group will build the first overseas hydrogen fuel cell system production base in China.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recently held the Industrial Technology Protection Committee and decided to approve the Hyundai Motor Group’s hydrogen fuel cell system technology export. Hyundai Motor Group applied for technology export approval by the Ministry of Industry last year to promote the establishment of a new hydrogen fuel cell system plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.

The hydrogen fuel cell system is a device that generates electricity using hydrogen and is a key component of a hydrogen vehicle that is an engine of an internal combustion locomotive. This technology is a national core technology developed with government support and must be approved by the Industrial Technology Protection Committee in accordance with relevant laws in order to export. The government approved the export as the positive effect of technology export was large and the possibility of leakage of core technology was small.

It is known that the Hyundai Motor Group plans to operate a production plant in China by manufacturing the cells of the hydrogen fuel cell stack in Korea and assembling them in China.

In the past, China provided subsidies for hydrogen vehicles to general consumers just like subsidies for electric vehicles, but in the future, it plans to distribute subsidies to local governments. The local governments took the initiative in providing vehicle subsidies and building charging infrastructure. Cooperation with local governments is important to preoccupy the Chinese hydrogen car market in this environment. Accordingly, the Korean government seems to have determined that it is necessary to build a local plant for the Hyundai Motor Group.

Already, Toyota built a hydrogen charging station in Jiangsu Province in 2017, and established a R&D joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group in June last year. Global fuel cell companies such as Ballard of Canada, Bosch of Germany, and Nubera of the United States are also cooperating with local production plants, technology research institutes, and universities and research institutes.

Hyundai Motor Group previously launched a hydrogen fuel cell brand’HTWO’ and expanded its hydrogen fuel cell system business. It also set a goal to sell 700,000 hydrogen fuel cells in 2030.