Zibo-made hydrogen, cell-driven refrigerated vans start work

Five hydrogen cell-driven refrigerated vans – made in Zibo city, in East China's Shandong province – were delivered on Aug 7 to Shandong Youxiansong Food Technology Co Ltd, an intelligent fresh food distribution company.

The vehicles are the first in an order of 50 such vans, whose fuel cell membranes, reactors, engines and bodies are to be produced locally.

The vans are being leased to companies, reducing their purchasing and operating costs.

"This not only allows our company to obtain more economic benefits, but more importantly improves the transport quality," said Jia Weidong, chairman of Youxiansong Food Technology.

According to Jia, each hydrogen cell-driven refrigerated van consumes 3 kilograms of hydrogen fuel per 100 kilometers, meaning that it costs about 1 yuan ($0.15) per km on average. The range of the vehicles is more than 300 km and the repairs and maintenance are relatively simple compared with conventional fuel vehicles, which will also reduce costs.

Moving forwards, the company plans to introduce five more of the vehicles and gradually replace all its standard fuel vehicles.

As a heavy industry city relying on its considerable resources, Zibo is ramping up efforts to develop the hydrogen energy and fuel cell sector and to transform its overall energy structure.

The local government in June announced several white papers on accelerating the promotion and application of new energy vehicles.

In the first half of this year, the city added about 7,000 new energy vehicles, equal to the number added for all of last year.