Toyota teams up with five Chinese companies to build fuel cell system R&D joint venture

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Toyota Motor on June 5 signed an agreement with five Chinese companies for the establishment of a fuel cell system R&D joint venture in a bid to popularize fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in China, the Japanese automaker announced on the same day.

The five Chinese partners are China FAW Corporation Limited (FAW), Dongfeng Motor Corporation (Dongfeng), GAC Group, BAIC Group and Beijing SinoHytec Co., Ltd. (SinoHytec), a Beijing-based hydrogen fuel cell engine developer.

Dubbed United Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (FCRD), the new joint venture will primarily work on the be development of fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles to contribute to the realization of a clean mobility society in China., according to Toyota.

Involving a planned investment of roughly 5.019 billion yen ($45,893,987), FCRD will be held as to 65% by Toyota and 15% by SinoHytec. The other 20% stake is evenly divided by FAW, Dongfeng, GAC Group and BAIC Group.

Dong Changzheng, senior executive vice president of Toyota's China operation, and Ryu Akita, executive vice president of Toyota's China branch, are slate to serve chairman and CEO of the new joint venture.

Speaking of the reason why they decided to set up the joint venture, Toyota said “in China, the FCEV market, primarily for commercial vehicles, is growing at a pace not seen anywhere else in the world. Thus, building the foundations for the widespread adoption of FCEVs under industry-wide efforts and an unprecedented open structure will be essential for the spread of FCEVs in the Chinese market.”

Through the joint venture, all participants intend to jointly promote the spread of FCEVs and develop competitive fuel cell systems that comply with regulations in China. They will engage in discussions to hammer out product plans and a single streamlined structure to develop a series of technologies from components including FC stacks that satisfy performance needs in China and FC system controls that support those components, to vehicle installation.