A fleet of 100 hydrogen heavy trucks has been delivered for work on a major new construction project in Hebei Province, China.
The fuel cell trucks are manufactured by FTXT Energy Technology, a Great Wall Motor (GWM) subsidiary, along with partners Dayun, Dongfeng and Foton.
The 49-tonne hydrogen heavy vehciles were unveiled at the Great Wall Technology Centre, with the handing over ceremony on August 14.
They will be put to work on Rongyi Road which is the main artery for transporting construction materials on the Xiong’an New Area construction project located about 100km southwest of Beijing.
A fleet of more than 1000 fuel cell trucks are expected on the road over the next five years and they will be refueled at 10 service stations along the 50km road.
The project aims to establish the basis for expansion to other regions based on its success, and to promote the development of a green transportation system nationwide.
The trucks are fitted with high-power 111kW hydrogen fuel cell engines, hydrogen stacks and hydrogen storage, fly compatible with each other on both power and control levels, developed by FTXT.
The engine has a lifetime of 10,000 hours and can be started at -30 degrees Celsius.
All system components are locally sourced, with resulting costs decreased by about 28%, the company says.
“The technological breakthroughs we have achieved till now, in many ways have helped us to significantly reduce the costs of the final product, as well as ensure high performance, durability, and overall efficiency,” FTXT Energy head Zhang Tianyu says.
GWM, China’s biggest maker of sport-utility vehicles, will also roll out its first hydrogen-powered SUV this year, and deploy its hydrogen-powered cars during the Winter Olympics in China next year.
FTXT Energy focuses on the research and development, manufacturing and sales of hydrogen energy technology. It has a professional R&D team as well as hydrogen energy test bases, fuel cell trial production centres, hydrogen production and liquefaction plants, supporting vehicle test sites, climatic chambers, and other high-quality resources.
Its engines and components have been fitted to heavy trucks, light trucks, city buses, sedans, SUVs and pickups. At present, the company deploys five R&D centres in Shanghai, Baoding, Canada, Japan and Germany.
A new city
More than 160,000 people are working on the Xiong’an New Area construction project which includes more than 120 major projects such as infrastructure construction and ecological restoration.
According to xinhuanet.com, the area aims to serve as a new home for Beijing’s colleges, hospitals, business headquarters, and financial and public institutions.
Leading Chinese tech firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu are set to move into the area and help develop technologies including autonomous driving, cloud computing, blockchain and big data.
