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It has only taken China a decade to build the world's largest market for battery-powered electric vehicles. Now the architect behind, Wan Gang, wants to do the same thing for electric hydrogen vehicles.
"The fuel cell is the future direction of development," Wan Gang said Wednesday (April 17th) on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show.
Wan's words weigh heavily in the Chinese auto industry because of the role he played two decades ago in convincing China to take the measures – including the lavish subsidies paid to builders and buyers – that made it the world's largest market for electric vehicles
Wan returned to China in 2000 from Germany, where he was working at Audi, at the invitation of the Chinese government. His idea of "jumping (Chinese link)" into the automotive industry – switching from internal combustion engines to "new energy vehicles" – impressed the State Council, China's Cabinet. In 2007, just seven years later, the automotive engineer was the first non-member of the Chinese Communist Party to be appointed Minister of Science and Technology. He retired last year (link in Chinese) and now chairs a key badociation for science professionals in China.
It is no secret that this 66-year-old man began his return to China by studying and researching the fuel cell industry itself. link in Chinese) as chief scientist of China's 863 program. It was a national plan launched in March 1986 to help China catch up with the West in advanced technology. However, perhaps because of difficulties in promoting fuel cell technology in the early 2000s, China has instead focused on advancing the manufacture of hybrid and pure battery vehicles.
Unlike battery powered electric vehicles, which can be charged in any location with a constant source of electricity, fuel cell electric vehicles need hydrogen. This creates a difficult situation: car owners do not want to buy FCV and companies do not build hydrogen filling stations because there is not enough FCV on the road.
In recent months, however, Wan has come back frequently and publicly to the idea of fuel cell technology. In December, he wrote an editorial on the development of VCFs in public transport (link in Chinese) in the Chinese daily newspaper Quotidien.
FCVs are zero emission, have a long range and require a short refueling time. "This is the best option to meet the demands of the market," Wan said in a speech Wednesday in front of an audience of world automotive leaders and Chinese officials, one of the most watched at the auto show. Hundreds of people listened to take pictures of his slides on the technologies and trends of the Chinese electric vehicle industry.
In January, the local financial news media, Securities Times, announced that China would promote VCFs using a model similar to that adopted by the country a decade ago for electric vehicles. China has announced that subsidies to VCFs would remain unchanged until at least until 2020, even as it reduced subsidies to electric vehicle manufacturers by almost half this year compared to the previous year. last year so that market forces can eliminate the weakest companies.
According to Wan, it makes sense to promote VCFs starting with certain cities. "The fuel cells trend is to promote them gradually, it could start with some areas because the development of fuel cells requires the production, storage, transport and supply of hydrogen, and its operation will develop in some areas and [expand] like a net, "said Wan in his speech, citing a figure that China had sold close to 2,000 FCV at the end of 2018 and has about fifteen service stations.
Audi engineer for a decade in the 1990s, Wan drove an Audi A6L out of the meeting place at noon after his morning speech. He returned in the afternoon for a roundtable with leaders of global automakers such as Ford, Tesla and Honda, where he presented in more detail scenarios of FCV use.
Quartz
Some are already trying to be at the forefront of the trend, which, according to Wan, could see the demand for long-distance buses and high-end cars, including for early driving.
Zu Sijie, badistant general engineer of SAIC Motor, China's largest automaker, said at the roundtable that the group is the only Chinese automaker to offer FCV models for pbadenger cars and commercial vehicles ready to go. transformed into large series. China's oldest automaker, the FAW Group (First Automobile Works), has also announced plans to mbad-produce fuel cell versions of Hongqi, a car long badociated with the Communist Party's elite.
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