Under the auspices of Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the “Commercialization of Fuel Cell Vehicles in China” Project was formally launched on August 31, 2016. It is a joint project implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in collaboration with governments of Beijing, Shanghai, Henan Province, Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province. Attendees included representatives and experts from relevant departments like Department of High-tech Development and Industrialization and Department of International Cooperation of MOST, Department of International Financial Cooperation of MOF, Department of Industry Coordination of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Department of Technology of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine’s Accreditation and Supervision Commission, UNDP China Office, competent departments of relevant provinces and municipalities as demonstration, and from domestic and foreign whole-vehicle and auto parts businesses.

During the meeting, representatives from UNDP China Office and Department of International Financial Cooperation of MOF made a speech respectively. Wu Zhixin, Executive Director of the Project, member of electric vehicles panel of MOST, and Deputy Director of China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC) briefed on background of the project and the scheme of implementation.

The project was approved by GEF in March this year. As demonstration of commercialization, hundreds of fuel cell buses, cars, trucks, and post lorries will run in cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Foshan and Yancheng. Research will be carried out in terms of improving fuel cells and fuel cell vehicles production and application, cost reduction of hydrogen station and environment improvement, commercialization policies and regulations framework of fuel cell vehicles, information communication activities and capacity building. The purpose is to promote commercialization of fuel cell vehicles in China. Also, the project will collect and analyze data of pilot operations of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations; it will summarize the influence of various business models on cell technology improvement and cost reduction in China; it will propose the industrialization map and motivational policies for development of fuel cell vehicles, upgrading relevant technical standards and accreditation systems. The implementation of this project will help foster the business environment of commercialization of fuel cell vehicles, quicken the research and compilation of relevant standards, and improve technical performance of products, laying a solid foundation for development of technology and industrialization of fuel cell vehicles in China.