
Will hydrogen cars from Germany and Japan take off in China?
December 24, 2022The H2 vehicle market is already dominated by Hyundai Motor Co, but rivals are stepping up.
Japanese and German automaker giants including Toyota and BMW are pushing forward into the hydrogen cars market in China.
Toyota plans to take the first steps with its second generation Mirai in China before the end of the year.
To bring its hydrogen cars into the Chinese market, Toyota intends to bring about 100 units of the second generation Mirai into the country for short-term car rental as well as for cab hailing services. The goal of this strategy is to boost consumer awareness of H2 vehicles before retails sales will begin, which will be its next steps.
The second generation Toyota Mirai’s performance is notably superior to that of the original model, with its maximum range having increased to 850 kilometers on a full H2 tank. Moreover, its mileage is about 200 kilometers superior to that of the Hyundai Nexo, which has a mileage of 609 kilometers. Toyota has also announced its intentions to use the Mirai fuel cells for an upcoming model of the Hilux truck that will begin full-scale commercial vehicle production next year.

2018 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell
Image Credit: By Lcaa9 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68338902
Toyota’s Mirais aren’t the only hydrogen cars working on entering the Chinese auto market.
Also from Japan, Honda is already selling the Clarity H2 passenger vehicle. The automaker’s intention is to convert its CR-V SUV into an H2 model which will begin mass production starting in 2024. They plan to make that SUV stand out by making it possible to charge its batteries by plugging it in too.
European automakers such as BMW have also completed the preparations that they need to make in advance of entry into the Chinese auto market. BMW began test production of its iX5 concept vehicle on December 5. The vehicle was developed in a collaboration with Toyota and will roll out in Japan in 2023. Also from Europe, Volkswagen – which had previously expressed skepticism about the future of hydrogen cars – recently applied to a fuel cell patent along with a German energy company.

By M 93, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77382304
Hyundai Motor Co. is the current leader in H2 vehicle market and therefore has a competitive edge, having rolled out the first mass-produced H2 truck in the form of the Xcient in the European market as well as in South Korea. In passenger vehicles, Hyundai has developed a third-generation fuel cell for hydrogen cars and has fuel cells in its Nexo car and Xcient truck.
HYDROGEN POLL: Cost and infrastructure aside, are you ready to use hydrogen as a source of fuel for home heating?[forminator_poll id=”56493″]
A hydrgen car is my dream car. Although I am 82 YO I am working on the PhD thesis. This is the subject for Hybrid Locomotives
Hybrid Locomotive Powered from Hydrogen Fuel Cells
for electric locomotives including Slip/Slide control and predictive wheel diameter compensation of each wheel powered by DTC inverters using permanent magnet AC traction motors
A development to assist Climate Change
Proposed PhD thesis by Bernard Schaffler. BSc Eng. MSc Eng. FIEAust. CPEng. MIEEE
Hello Bernard,
I am interested in your research and we will be developing a =n H2 solution for trains. Lets have a discussion about it. My company ,PinkH2 Ltd can make H2 for about 115 times less energy than alkaline or PEM electrolysers, which obviously makes our H2 very low cost. Kind regards, [email protected]
Dave Thomas, CEO ,PinkH2 Ltd
Hi Dave. So good to hear fom you. Thereis ot enough development taking place using hydrogen.
My problem is money to build and develop the Traction Simulator to prove the Slip/Slide control of the bogie wheels.
I would like to know more about h2 fuel. How cheaper, safer and easily transportable compared to fossil fuel such as gasoline?
Hi; the cost of hydrogen as a fuel depends on the cost of the energy to produce it, usually from water or steam. This is normally electricity that powers an electrolyser where the electrical energy is used to separate the strong bond between the 2 hydrogen atoms and the oxygen atom that are joined that makes water (H2O). The electrical energy needed can be reduced by adding the energy of heat by using waste steam instead of liquid water (steam electrolysis). Hydrogen can be produced in many other ways and most is produced worldwide by the petrochemical industries from fossil methane, so this is called grey hydrogen as it is of a fossil origin, and it can also be produced from biomethane from organic waste (CH4) at very high temperature (around 900C) that splits it directly into carbon and hydrogen. So the cost comes down to the cost of the energy to split the water molecule. The US Government has a target of $1.5 per kilogram which may be reached when the cost of electricity is low enough. Hydrogen is the lightest element so it is difficult to liquify it, so it is normally stored at very high pressure. Because it is very light, a leak will disperse very fast and not produce an explosive mixture unlike gasoline that can accumulate on the ground and ignite easily. Gasoline is several hydrogen atoms that have hitched a ride on the back of a chain of carbon, so the greater the size of the molecule, the more it will be easy to liquify.
And how are we going to refuel them? Are there enough Hydrogen stations to do that? If so, where are they?
I want to jump over the EV develoopment straight to H2 but, I fear, that the market in Australia is too small to attract much attention.