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This would help states work with the private sector to expedite the transition to zero-emission vehicles (including both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric) and invest in much-needed charging and hydrogen fueling facilities.

Great Wall has invested 2 billion yuan ($305 million) over the past five years to develop hydrogen power-related technologies that can be used for vehicles as well as marine and rail transport, Zhang said. Founder Wei Jianjun added that Great Wall will invest another 3 billion yuan over the next three years and plans to become a top-three seller of hydrogen-powered automobiles by 2025. “Development of the hydrogen-related industry will move forward as quickly as that for electric vehicles,” Wei said.

“We are enthusiastic that many sectors of the economy are joining together to advocate for clean hydrogen as a critical pathway to achieve the emission reduction goals we have set for the businesses and groups we lead,” says David Carroll, President and CEO, Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Richard Voorberg, President, Siemens Energy, Inc., Sean McGarvey, President, North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU), and Alan Armstrong, President and CEO, The Williams Companies. “Our organizations, as well as several other U.S. businesses, have identified clean hydrogen as essential to meeting our targets, and we are eager to work with President Biden, his administration and Congress to foster clean hydrogen’s growth throughout our economy.”

We need a mix of fuels and powertrains in the future, chosen for different needs on the basis of carbon emissions and energy efficiency. In particular, the characteristics of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) are so different that we see the current debate as a false dilemma; we need both, for different roles.

Renault has been a pioneer of the electric utility vehicle since 2011 and has also been a pioneer of hydrogen since 2014. Before the end of 2021, Renault will present the Master Hydrogen. With Plug Power, Renault aims for 30% of the European market for hydrogen light commercial vehicles by 2030, with charging solutions for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle fleets.

Cole stressed that the hydrogen drive for Hyundai is not a competition for the battery electric car: "We see the possibility of coexistence of both types of drive, there are no one-way streets," he told Handelsblatt.

This new level of maturity for hydrogen shows that we have hit an important threshold of realisation. The urgency to act on climate change has resonated across sectors and geographies, prompting substantial action on the ground to maximise hydrogen’s contribution to the decarbonisation of our economies. In the newly published Hydrogen Council Hydrogen Insights[1] report, developed in collaboration with McKinsey, we investigate key market trends, the investment commitments of Hydrogen Council members, and the industry’s efforts to deliver the cost reduction benefits of industrial scale-up. This provides valuable guidance about the role that hydrogen will play as the industry continues to grow.

For this reason, developing a dependable, long-lasting hydrogen fuel cell for trucks is the focus of a new Department of Energy consortium called the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck, known as M2FCT, which is co-led by Los Alamos National Laboratory and kicked off at the beginning of the new year. Funded by the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, M2FCT will focus on fuel cell durability, performance, and cost to better position fuel cell trucks as a viable option in the long-haul trucking market. Because of the impracticality of testing hydrogen fuel cells for a million hours to recreate wear on the engine, researchers in Los Alamos will use accelerated stress testing to reproduce the punishment on fuel cells from driving. This sped-up stress test generally involves adding heat and gases that speed the deterioration process. Already, the research has produced a couple of insights, including that altering the microscopic structure of the platinum catalyst can reduce the metal’s deterioration. Los Alamos scientists also introduced a benign material into the fuel cell chamber that can capture the harmful chemicals that typically degrade the membrane, extending the fuel cell’s life.

Next up on the itinerary will be California, a hotbed of innovation and an accelerator of ecological transition in North America: a sea passage spanning nearly 3,000 nautical miles with two stopovers scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco, health conditions permitting. After a stopover in the Golden State, the crew is expected to embark on its first Transpacific passage, with an unmissable stopover in Hawaii before journeying to Tokyo Bay for the Olympic Games.