United Fuel Cell System R&D: Toyota and Chinese partners start their (quiet) engines on fuel cell electric vehicle development

July 15, 2020 | Case Study

China is the largest market for battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), driven by the country's Technology Roadmap for Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicles announced in 2016. While China's automakers have lagged behind those in Japan and Korea in developing and manufacturing passenger FCEVs, Chinese players have been more active in developing commercial vehicles. This focus on commercial vehicles results from both China's push to decarbonize its commercial fleet and a larger industry trend arising from longer range requirements and the high price of hydrogen infrastructure. Yet China has also looked to bring in FCEV technology from outside its borders – as exemplified by FC producer Ballard, which received an investment from Weichei and partnered with Dongfeng and Yutong on bus and box truck deployments.