Senior China Official Urges Shift Toward Fuel-Cell Vehicles
- Wan, father of China’s EV industry, touts hydrogen’s benefits
- China moving toward fuel cells would be boon for Toyota
After spending billions of dollars in subsidies for lithium-battery electric cars, China should now shift its focus toward developing vehicles using the competing hydrogen fuel-cell technology, a former top official said.
Benefits of fuel-cell vehicles include long driving range, short refueling time and zero emissions, Wan Gang, a deputy chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the parliament, wrote in a commentary published on the state-run People’s Daily on Saturday. His advocacy now of fuel-cell vehicles represents a potential boon for proponents of such cars -- including Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. as well as slew of aspiring local makers such as SAIC Motor Corp. and Great Wall Motor Co.