Shanghai, China - October 19, 2019 - Innova Research team are conducting a research on the "Hydrogen Production, Storage & Transportation, and Utilization Technology Landscape in China". During the interviews with fuel cell vehicle (FCV) makers, fuel cell battery makers, and other opinion leaders in the hydrogen industry value chain, there were a lot of discussions going on around the government subsidies for FCVs in China.

Chinese government started the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, including FCVs and electric vehicles (EVs) as early as 2009, and the policy was planned to be terminated by the end of 2020. While the Chinese EV market has proven to be a success, the FCV market has lagged far behind due to slower technology development and prevalent safety concern. Innova Research estimated that, by the end of 1st half of 2019, around 2,000 FCVs were running on the roads in China, compared with over 2.6 million EVs by the end of 2018.

On the other hand, the penetration of FCVs has been increasing rapidly, especially when multiple city governments started to invest hugely to build hydrogen stations around major cities in China two years ago. Needless to say, government subsidies still play a critical role to prompt the adoption of FCVs. For example, each FCV purchase can receive RMB 500,000 (per commercial FCV) or RMB 200,000 (per passenger FCV) from the Central government, and sometimes additional subsidies from the local governments, to cover the costs.

Dr. Nancy Wu, research director at Innova Research commented:" While the Chinese FCV market is growing rapidly, the possible change of the subsidy policy becomes the largest uncertainty for future expansion. There are a lot of debates on whether to continue the subsidy policy, with powerful supporters from both sides of the debates. Innova Research will watch closely on the possible change of the policy and its influence on the FCV market in China."

For more information, please contact Richard Li, at Richard.jun.li@innovaresearchinc.com