"Hydrogen core" localization strides forward Edelman Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell production project officially launched

In recent years, some countries and major auto companies have issued timetables for the suspension of fuel vehicles, and new energy vehicles have become the main trend in the future. Compared with pure electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with higher efficiency, more energy saving and environmental protection are considered by some countries and enterprises to be the direction of future development of new energy vehicles. Therefore, the localization of hydrogen fuel cells is known as the “hydrogen core” has attracted more attention.

On May 8, the Nanhai District Government of Foshan City, Guangdong Province and Edelman Hydrogen Energy Equipment Co., Ltd. officially signed a project investment agreement. The signing of the agreement marks the official launch of Edelman's Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell production project. This is an important step for Foshan to realize the localized production of hydrogen fuel cells, which has effectively promoted the development of hydrogen energy industry in Guangdong. The Foshan Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Industry Innovation Alliance were formally established on the same day.

Hydrogen fuel cell localization speed

According to reports, Edelman Hydrogen Energy Equipment Co., Ltd. is a fuel cell manufacturer. Through the introduction of German technology, it has realized completely independent intellectual property rights and is completely localized. Several technical indicators have reached the international advanced level. On December 6 last year, Edelman signed a project cooperation framework agreement with Nanhai to reach an investment agreement for Edelman's Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell production project.

The Economic Daily reporter learned that Edelman's Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell production project is located in Danzao Town, Nanhai District, and will build a hydrogen fuel cell and power train production base with a planned investment of 3 billion Yuan and an annual production capacity of 80,000 hydrogen fuel cells. It will be promoted in three phases. The first phase of the project will be put into operation this year. After all projects are put into production, the annual output value is expected to be over 20 billion Yuan. The project is another heavy hydrogen industry project introduced by Nanhai following the Guangdong Changjiang Automobile Complete Vehicle Production and Hydrogen Power R&D Center Project.

"Hydrogen fuel cells are the heart of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the core of the hydrogen energy industry. The landing of the Edeman Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell production project marks a major step forward in the localization of the core components of the hydrogen industry in the South China Sea. Nanhai District has strengthened its position as a pioneer in the promotion and application of hydrogen energy industry in South China.” Huang Zhihao, member of the Standing Committee of Foshan Municipal Committee and secretary of the Nanhai District Committee, said that the project will accelerate the improvement of Foshan and Nanhai new energy automobile industry and hydrogen industry chain, build a good pattern of hydrogen industry chain cooperation, and accelerate the industrialization application and promotion of hydrogen and fuel cell products in the end of the market.

On the day of the event, 14 companies including Edelman Guangdong Hydrogen Energy Equipment Co., Ltd., State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Electromechanical Systems of Zhejiang University, Dongfeng Special Auto (Shiyan) Bus Co., Ltd., and South China Sea New Energy Automobile Industry Promotion Center of Nanhai District, Foshan City The representative of the organization and the Nanhai District Government jointly initiated the establishment of the “Foshan Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Industry Innovation Alliance”.

It is reported that the Innovation Alliance will vigorously introduce high-end talents, establish "Academician Workstation" and "Postdoctoral Workstation" in Nanhai District, vigorously promote the construction of the South China Sea fuel cell production base, and build a new type of fuel cell as the core to build the support of Edelman Big Data. The logistics service platform helps logistics companies optimize the innovative logistics service model. At the same time, the Innovation Alliance will also establish the Foshan Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Fund in accordance with the central policy and the development strategy of the Foshan Municipal Government to fully support the development of the hydrogen energy industry in Foshan.

The whole industry chain development encounters challenges

At present, hydrogen fuel cell technology innovation is becoming an important direction of the global energy technology revolution. In the field of vehicle energy, hydrogen fuel cells are considered to be an important technical solution to achieve “zero emission” in the vehicle use phase and “low emission” in the whole life cycle. It is the commanding height of future technological competition in the automotive industry.

In 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Energy Bureau jointly issued the "Energy Technology Revolution and Innovation Action Plan (2016-2030)", and listed "hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology innovation" as 15 specific tasks of the key innovation actions of the energy technology revolution. First, the hydrogen energy industry was officially included in China's national energy strategy.

"Currently, many domestic manufacturers have begun to deploy the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry, but the relevant industry chain has a certain distance from maturity, but only entered the stage of industrialization 'testing water'," said Gong Jing, executive director of Edelman.

As the only manufacturer in China that masters the production of hydrogen fuel cell metal bipolar plate stack technology, Edelman also has its own troubles. “We mainly use imported materials because their technology is more mature, which means higher costs.” Gong Jing believes that “as a market-oriented product, cost performance is very important, like raw materials such as membranes and catalysts, and hydrogen. We manufacture the supporting facilities for pumps and humidifiers. We hope that the localization process of Chinese enterprises will be faster and the cost will be lower."

"The hydrogen energy automobile industry is hard to rely on a single company to achieve long-term development, and it needs the development of the entire chain of battery-automobile-hydrogenation stations." Dr. Zhou, Institute of Fuel Cell Composite Power Supply, New Energy Automotive Engineering Center, school of Automotive Shanghai Tongji University Wei said that the lack of hydrogenation infrastructure is a major obstacle to the development of the hydrogen energy industry. The government needs to continue to increase support and promotion of hydrogen station construction, study and formulate the overall planning and layout of hydrogen station development, and encourage state-owned and society. Capital participates in the financing of the hydrogen refueling station.

The legislative issue of the hydrogen energy industry has also received attention from enterprises. "At this stage, the development of hydrogen energy industry is slow, and hydrogen is still used as a chemical product without being used as an energy product." Ruiming Zhang, general manager of Guangdong Tailuo Automotive Power Systems Co., Ltd. believes that the government should from the perspective of rationalization and solve the relevant laws and regulations concerning the entire hydrogen industry chain.

The layout of emerging industries continues to advance

“The South China Sea has gathered a lot of hydrogen energy companies and deployed a number of hydrogen refueling stations. The hardware environment is second to none in the country. The development of the hydrogen energy industry is in the forefront of the country. This is the most important reason why we choose to cooperate with the South China Sea.” Director of Edelman Chang Liming Xu said.

As Liming Xu said, in recent years, Nanhai will cultivate the development of hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology to the height of strategic emerging industries. In 2015, it proposed to make Nanhai District a leading domestic R&D and production base for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle core components.

Last year, Nanhai issued the first support policy for the development of new energy automobile industry in the province, and supported enterprises engaged in the new energy vehicle (hydrogen-containing) industry in Nanhai District. In April this year, Nanhai introduced the “Supporting and Operation of Hydrogen Station Promotion and Operation of Hydrogen Energy Vehicles in the Nanhai District of Foshan City (Provisional)”, which is the most supportive measure for the subsidies for hydrogen station construction in various regions of the country.

At the level of platform construction, Nanhai has built a number of hydrogen fuel cell industry research and development platforms, such as the South China Center for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Source Technology National Engineering Center, and the National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Self-lubricating Mobile Power Machinery Technology, to promote the continuous high-end of the R&D platform. On April 1 this year, Foshan Green Development and Innovation Research Institute were officially unveiled in Nanhai. It will focus on building five green development platforms including “new energy industry services” to promote the green transformation and upgrading of equipment manufacturing industry in Foshan City and Nanhai District.

At the base construction level, a new energy automobile industrial base with an area of 8,200 Mu was planned in Danzao Town to undertake the development of new energy vehicles and hydrogen energy industry. The first phase of 900 Mu has been basically completed, and Guangshun New Energy and Guangdong Tai have been introduced. Companies such as Ross develop and produce key components such as key components for new energy vehicles, compressors, hydrogen circulation pumps, and hydrogen fuel cell power train assemblies. The base has been listed as a pilot project for the strategic emerging industries in Guangdong Province. One of the districts was recognized by the provincial government as the second batch of strategic emerging industrial bases in Guangdong Province in 2014. It is worth mentioning that the Ruihui hydrogen refueling station located in the base was officially put into operation on September 7, 2017. This is the first commercialized hydrogenation station in China, which has created national commercial hydrogen refueling station.

At present, the hydrogen energy industry in the South China Sea covers the development of hydrogen-rich materials and hydrogen production equipment, hydrogen production, hydrogenation to the core components of hydrogen fuel cells, power trains and vehicle production. In the future, Nanhai will rely on the existing automobile industry foundation, focusing on technology innovation, application and development of new energy vehicles especially hydrogen fuel cell vehicles related project as the core, committed to become the vehicle and power battery, drive motor, electric control key parts such as all-round development of new energy vehicles and hydrogen industry base.

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