First integrated hydrogen refuelling station to be deployed in Hainan in 2021

According to Haima Motors, the company is developing its third-generation fuel cell vehicles as the company’s strategic deployment focuses on hydrogen vehicles.

They aim is to deploy about 2,000 fuel cell vehicles by 2025 for pilot operations.

Haima participated in developing the first integrated hydrogen refuelling station (which can make hydrogen from water), in Hainan which will come into use this year.

Haima plan to build one hydrogen refuelling station each in Qionghai, Danzhou, Sanya, Haikou and Qiongzhong.  

The building of hydrogen refuelling station networks has been accelerated in China. By the end of July 2021, China had a total of 136 hydrogen refuelling stations, and is expected to reach 1000 stations by 2025.

How Do Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles Work Using Hydrogen?

First integrated hydrogen refuelling station to be deployed in Hainan in 2021

FCEVs produce electricity using a fuel cell powered by hydrogen

Like all-electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) use electricity to power an electric motor.

In contrast to other electric vehicles, FCEVs produce electricity using a fuel cell powered by hydrogen, rather than drawing electricity from only a battery.

Although automakers could design an FCEV with plug-in capabilities to charge the battery, most FCEVs today use the battery for recapturing braking energy, providing extra power during short acceleration events and to smooth out the power delivered from the fuel cell with the option to idle or turn off the fuel cell during low power needs.

The amount of energy stored on-board is determined by the size of the hydrogen fuel tank.

This is different from an all-electric vehicle, where the amount of power and energy available are both closely related to the battery’s size.