Name: SCMP
Telephone: +852-2680-8888

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Yujie Xue

At the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Congress and Exhibition in Shanghai last week, more than 300 companies from countries including China, Japan, Korea and Canada came to showcase their latest technology and products.
Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which emit only water, have attracted increasing attention from policymakers and companies seeking to decarbonise to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Some carmakers consider hydrogen vehicles the future of net-zero transport, but few consumers have heard of the technology, let alone seen such vehicles on the streets.
Here is what you need to know about hydrogen vehicles and their prospects for widespread adoption.
How do hydrogen vehicles work？
Hydrogen can be burned directly as a fuel, as it is highly reactive and combustible. But that is not how it works in hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Hydrogen vehicles are powered by electricity that is generated from hydrogen by built-in fuel cells. In simple terms, these fuel cells turn hydrogen atoms into electricity and water molecules. The electricity then powers electric motors. This is why the common abbreviation for hydrogen vehicles is FCEVs (fuel cell electric vehicles).
While battery electric vehicles (BEVs) use electricity stored in batteries, FCEVs produce electricity onboard from hydrogen stored in a tank. BEVs recharge their batteries from the electric grid when they run low, while FCEVs must refill their hydrogen storage tanks.
What advantages do hydrogen vehicles have?
Like BEVs, FCEVs generate no greenhouse gas emissions when running. The only thing their tailpipes emit is water vapour. When FCEVs use “green hydrogen” – hydrogen produced by splitting water molecules using electricity from clean sources – they further reduce emissions, because the production process of the fuel is also carbon-neutral.
The biggest advantage users of FCEVs might notice over BEVs is the short refuelling time. Although this varies by model, it normally takes a few minutes to refuel the hydrogen storage tank in an FCEV, whereas a BEV can take many hours to recharge, and even the fastest chargers take around 20 minutes.

Long driving range is another advantage of hydrogen vehicles over BEVs. Toyota’s Mirai, the first mass-produced FCEV on the market, holds the current world record for the longest range in a hydrogen-powered car. It can travel 1,360km on a full tank of 5.65kg of hydrogen, double the current highest range for a BEV.
Hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses, can have even longer range thanks to their ability to carry a larger amount of hydrogen.
What factors are working against hydrogen vehicles?
The availability of hydrogen fuel is the biggest challenge for FCEVs. Green hydrogen is often produced in regions where renewable energy is abundant, but these are often far from the demand centres.
Unlike electricity, which is delivered through transmission and distribution lines at nearly the speed of light, hydrogen has to travel on the road via tanker trucks, or tube trailers in small amounts, or via pipelines. The infrastructure to support this is developing slowly, and transport and storage costs are high.
In addition, transporting hydrogen tanks using petrol-powered trucks would negate some of the advantages of using hydrogen in the first place. So fleets of electric trucks powered by electricity from renewable sources – or hydrogen – would ideally need to materialise before widespread distribution of hydrogen would make sense.
Another challenge for hydrogen vehicles is efficiency. Whenever energy is converted from one form to another, energy loss is inevitable. That loss is between 30 and 40 per cent when green hydrogen is produced using electrolysis powered by solar and wind electricity, according to Cosimo Ries, energy analyst at think tank Trivium China. Then, converting the hydrogen into electricity in an FCEV’s fuel cell loses more energy, further reducing efficiency.
In addition, makers of BEVs are not standing still. “With the development of BEVs in recent years, their battery technology has repeatedly achieved breakthroughs and gained consumers’ trust,” said Yao Zhe, Beijing-based global policy analyst at Greenpeace East Asia. “Especially in the field of medium and short-distance passenger vehicles, I think there is a clear consensus that hydrogen is not a good choice.”
The high costs of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen fuels also represent obstacles to wider adoption. For example, in China – the world’s largest hydrogen developer and the biggest FCEV market – current hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks can cost around 1 million yuan (US$138,400), almost triple the price of traditional trucks, according to Robin Lin, chairman and president of Refire Group, a Chinese supplier of hydrogen fuel cell technologies.
High-purity hydrogen, generated as a by-product of industrial processes, costs around 25 to 40 yuan per kilogram at hydrogen refuelling stations in places like industry-heavy Shanxi province, and 50 to 70 yuan per kilogram at stations in Shanghai, according to Refire. This kind of hydrogen is called blue or grey hydrogen, because its production involves carbon emissions.
Hydrogen fuel will only compete with diesel vehicles if the price drops below 30 yuan per kilogram, Yi Baolian, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said in a speech in 2023.
China’s diesel prices are on average below 10 yuan per litre.
What countries and makers are in the game?
At the end of 2023, Korea led the world with 34,650 FCEVs registered, with 34,000 of them being passenger vehicles, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
China followed with 22,480 vehicles, but more than 70 per cent of these were commercial vehicles, according to the IEA. The United States took third place with 18,220 FCEVs, mostly passenger vehicles.
When it comes to brands, Korea’s Hyundai dominates the FCEV market, accounting for more than a third of the 14,451 hydrogen vehicles sold worldwide last year, according to SNE Research. Japan’s Toyota is the second-largest FCEV builder, accounting for about 27 per cent of global sales last year.

As for countries, China overtook Korea in the sale of FCEVs for the first time last year, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the worldwide total, SNE said.
So far more than 40 jurisdictions worldwide have issued hydrogen strategies, with many of them including the development of hydrogen vehicles and related infrastructure in their plans. In China’s national hydrogen strategy, the country aims to have at least 50,000 FCEVs on the road by 2025.
Does hydrogen have a future in transport?
With its advantages in driving range and refuelling time, hydrogen is likely to have the most potential in heavy-duty and long-distance transport, such as trucks, logistics vehicles, buses and trains.
However, high vehicle prices, the cost of fuel, and the lack of infrastructure for hydrogen fuel transport and storage remain barriers.
“If the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles cannot come down, it cannot compete with battery EVs even in the heavy truck sector,” said Trivium’s Ries.
Government subsidies could give the FCEV market a big push. For example, China’s government is encouraging cities to form “clusters” of hydrogen development, offering a bonus of as much as 1.7 billion yuan for these regions to boost FCEV deployment. And in cities that already have subsidies, hydrogen trucks are already at cost parity with diesel trucks, according to Amily Guo, China refining and chemicals analyst at UBS Investment Bank.
By 2027, hydrogen-powered trucks are expected to reach life-cycle cost parity with their fossil-fuel-burning peers in China even without the aid of subsidies, according to Refire’s Lin.


Towngas unit ready to build sustainable jet fuel plant near Hong Kong if policy in place

Google interest in ‘China EV’ zooms ahead, leaving ‘global warming’ in its wake

Developing nations blast Cop29 climate deal as insufficient

Cop29 ends with US$300 billion deal on climate finance, saving talks from brink of collapse

Business of climate change

How do hydrogen vehicles work? Are they the future of transport?

A display shows the fuel cell portion of a Hyundai hydrogen-powered vehicle at an exhibition in Beijing on May 27, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

A staff member fills a hydrogen-powered bus providing transport for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at a Sinopec filling station in Chongli, China, on February 11, 2022. Photo: Getty Images

A crowd at the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Congress and Exhibition in Shanghai on June 14, 2024. Photo: Handout

Green hydrogen: will China, US or EU dominate the global clean energy race?

 Illustration: Brian Wang

Wisdom Motor has signed an agreement with the Abu Dhabi government to deliver three hydrogen buses. Photo: Handout

What is green hydrogen and what is China’s role in its production and use?

China has more than 30 large-scale green hydrogen projects involving 260 billion yuan of investment. Photo: Shutterstock

A 5G+ hydrogen-powered unmanned tractor is displayed at the 13th Central China Investment and Trade Exposition in Changsha, central China’s Hunan province, last week. Photo: Xinhua

A model of Airbus’ ZEROe hydrogen fuel cell powered aero engine is displayed at the VivaTech conference in Paris, France, on May 24. Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Hydrogen-powered trucks in China to cost less than their diesel peers by 2027: Refire Group

Hydrogen-powered trucks are expected to reach life-cycle cost parity with their fossil fuel-burning equivalents in China by 2027, driving the country to dominate the market for hydrogen fuel cells in the transport sector in the global hydrogen race. Photo: Refire Group

Robin Lin, chairman and chief executive officer of Shanghai REFIRE Group Ltd. poses for a picture in JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong. 07MAY24 Photo Edmond So

China’s carbon neutral goal: Foshan leads a silent revolution in green transport with its hydrogen trams

Illustration: Joe Lo/SCMP

A Ballard-powered hydrogen fuel cell tram in Foshan, China. Photo: Handout

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE RE-USE***Foshan's modern cityscape belies its rich cultural past.

graphic for online The world's major carbon dioxide emitters in 2020 China United States Europe India Russia Japan Rest of the world Total Emission (million tonnes) 9,899 4,457 3,597 2,302 1 ,482 1 ,027 9,520 32,284 Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy Per cent 31 14 11 7 5 3 29 100 SCMP

Commuters sit in the hydrogen-powered tram in Foshan, China. SCMP / Yujie Xue

Ballard Power System's hydrogen fuel cell stacks. Photo: Hydrogen Fuel News

epa04492965 An undated handout photograph made available by Toyota on 17 November 2014 showing the Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV). Toyota state that the FCV is an all-electric, called 'Mirai.' four-door sedan that makes its own electricity on board and will be officially launched on 17 November 2014. The vehicle utilizes the same hybrid technology developed for Toyotaâ€™s hybrid synergy drive systems but replaces the gasoline engine with a fuel cell stack. EPA/TOYOTA / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

A tram powered by Ballard Power System’s hydrogen fuel cells arriving at the Zhihu station in the Gaoming district of Foshan city in southern China’s Greater Bay Area on August 18, 2021. PHoto: Xue Yujie

China has discreetly taken 10 per cent of the world’s market for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Here’s a look at the company leading the charge

Illustration by Perry Tse

Workers assembled a hydrogen fuel-cell bus at Sinosynergy’s headquarters in Yunfu, Guangdong province, on May 21, 2022. Photo: Yujie Xue

Miniature-scale models of the hydrogen supply chain at Sinosynergy’s headquarters in Yunfu, Guangdong province. Photo: Yujie Xue

A model of a hydrogen fuel-cell engine developed by Sinosynergy is displayed at its headquarters in Yunfu, Guangdong province. Photo: Yujie Xue

Workers install hydrogen tanks on a fuel-cell truck at Sinosynergy’s headquarters in Yunfu, Guangdong province. Photo: Yujie Xue

The interior of a hydrogen fuel-cell bus commercially operating in Yunfu, Guangdong province. Photo: Yujie Xue

A hydrogen fuel-cell bus emits only water vapour as its sole by-product. Photo: Yujie Xue

Business

News

Tech

Green hydrogen and the global clean energy race

Green hydrogen: can China replicate its success in EVs, batteries and solar panels?

What are electrolysers? How is hydrogen produced and how do fuel cells use the energy?

China’s green hydrogen supply is forecast to rocket from around 350,000 tonnes in 2023 to 71 million tonnes in 2050, according to Shanghai-based consultancy Integral. Photo: Bloomberg

Hong Kong start-up Epago has developed a new type of membrane, a core component in hydrogen fuel cell batteries, bringing down production costs and manufacturing time. Photo: Yujie Xue

Green hydrogen: is this Australia’s breakout moment amid US$127 billion boom down under?

 Illustration: Eunice Tse

James Ieong, co-founder of Sydney-based green hydrogen projects developer Climate Impact Corporation. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong’s nascent hydrogen economy needs bigger push to get rolling, advocates say

Illustration: Henry Wong

Kenny So Kwok-kin, general manager of engineering at Citybus, takes a selfie with Citybus buses at Harbourfront Central. Photo: Kenny So

Edmond Fong Wai-man, chairman of the Hong Kong Hydrogen Alliance poses at the SCMP office in Causeway Bay, on June, 26, 2024. Photo: Antony Dickson

Long-range vehicles that emit only water are enticing, but high costs and fast evolution among battery-powered EVs could limit prospects


Long-range vehicles that emit only water are enticing, but high costs and fast evolution among battery-powered EVs could limit prospects.


Hydrogen energy

Explainers

Explainers: Business

Explainers: Technology

China and climate change

Climate change science and technology

Future of transport

China’s carbon neutral goal

Automotive industry

Provide background, definition and detail of a specific topic, helping the reader understand how something works or what has happened in the past.  (Eg. What is Nafta? US and Mexico are on the verge of revising trade deal.)


Explainer

Explainer | How do hydrogen vehicles work? Are they the future of transport?

Long-range vehicles that emit only water are enticing, but high costs and fast evolution among battery-powered EVs could limit prospects

How do hydrogen vehicles work？