First in China, BMW inaugurates hydrogen-fuelled truck transport

Recently, the first hydrogen refuelling station in Shenyang was officially put into operation, and BMW Brilliance became its first user. This means that BMW Brilliance has become the first automobile OEM in China to use green hydrogen-fuelled trucks for logistics transport.

Green hydrogen-fuelled trucks have the advantages of long range, fast energy replenishment, light weight and zero emissions in logistics transport, which is an important initiative for BMW Brilliance to explore sustainable development. To this end, BMW Brilliance has promoted its logistics partner, Huatong Logistics, to incorporate green hydrogen-fuelled trucks into its commercial operations, creating demand for the construction of hydrogen refuelling stations. In addition, China Huadian has adopted the ‘integrated high-capacity wind-power off-grid hydrogen production’ technology to produce hydrogen, which can realise large-scale green hydrogen production and provide a source of green hydrogen for the completion of the hydrogen refuelling station. On this basis, Shenyang City and Dandong District Government promoted the joint construction of hydrogen refuelling stations by Sinopec Green Energy, realising the breakthrough of ‘from scratch’ and helping to build the ‘hydrogen capital of the north’.

In recent years, BMW has continued to promote the development of low-carbon transport and multimodal transport, such as railway and maritime transport, in order to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency. Since the beginning of 2018, BMW's Shenyang production base has begun to use liquefied natural gas trucks, and pure electric trucks will be enabled in 2022, and trial runs of green hydrogen fuel trucks will begin at the end of June this year. In terms of hydrogen fuel cell products, the BMW Group announced on 5 September that it will launch the first market-oriented mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCEV) in 2028. in 2023, the BMW iX5 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle began road testing in major cities around the world, and the vehicle has now completed the testing process for production-grade standards; the 2028 mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will be equipped with a new generation of fuel cells, but for the specific models, BMW has not yet disclosed.

China's Medium and Long Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035) clearly points out that hydrogen energy is an important part of the future national energy system, and by 2025, a more complete policy environment for the development of hydrogen energy industry system will be formed, while deploying the construction of a number of hydrogen refuelling stations, and the ownership of fuel cell vehicles will be about 50,000 units. ‘BMW is actively exploring the practical application of green hydrogen energy, and the use of green hydrogen fuel trucks in logistics at the Shenyang plant is precisely the latest practical achievement.’ Dai Hesuan, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance, explained that BMW Brilliance's co-operation with local partners is not only in response to China's hydrogen energy development plan, but will also actively promote the innovation and development of the hydrogen energy industry.