Transport

City of Beijing seeks to increase number of hydrogen vehicles and filling stations by six to sevenfold by 2025

The Chinese capital wants to see 10,000 fuel-cell vehicles and 74 H2 refuelling pumps on its streets in just over three years

A hydrogen-powered Olympic bus being refuelled at a Sinopec filling station in Zhangjiakou in February this year.
A hydrogen-powered Olympic bus being refuelled at a Sinopec filling station in Zhangjiakou in February this year.Photo: VCG/Getty

Beijing city authorities have announced plans to increase the number of hydrogen vehicles on its streets by more than sixfold by 2025 — from 1,528 today to 10,000 — while increasing the number of hydrogen filling stations from ten to 74.

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“Compared with pure electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have the characteristics of long cruising range, short [refuelling] time, zero emission and zero pollution, and are especially suitable for application scenarios such as low temperature, mountainous areas, heavy loads, and long-distance transportation,” said the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress in a “news update”.

About 1,200 fuel-cell vehicles — including 800 buses — were used to ferry athletes and officials around Beijing and neighbouring Zhangjiakou at the Winter Olympics and Paralympics earlier this year.

The city says it is eyeing 3,000 fuel-cell vehicles by the end of next year, and adds that it sees potential for up to 137,000 H2 cars on its roads, although it did not suggest when that might be possible.

The local authorities also did not state where all the hydrogen used to fuel these vehicles would come from.

China currently produces about 33 million tonnes of H2 each year, amounting to 30% of the world’s total, with two thirds of this being made from unabated coal, resulting in about 360 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, according to the IEA.
Another 19% is generated from unabated natural gas, with almost all the remaining H2 being industrial by-products from chlorine and caustic soda production, coke oven gas and propane dehydrogenation.
Earlier this year, China announced a new national target of producing 100,000-200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2025.
The city of Shanghai also announced ambitious plans for hydrogen development in October.
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Published 29 November 2022, 09:01Updated 29 November 2022, 09:17