Toyota’s two joint ventures in China to sell CV-dedicated fuel cell system

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- United Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (FCRD) and Toyota SinoHytec Fuel Cell Co.,Ltd. (FCTS), two Beijing-based joint ventures of Toyota Motor Corporation, are about to sell the “TL Power 100” fuel cell system that is developed and produced for commercial vehicles (CVs), the first-of-its-kind in China, SinoHytec, who is also a shareholder of both FCRD and FCTS, announced on Oct. 26 via its WeChat account.

“TL Power 100" fuel cell system; photo credit: SinoHytec

FCRD was incorporated in August last year as a joint venture among the six companies, namely, Toyota Motor Corporation, SinoHytec, BAIC Group, GAC Group, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and FAW Group. Toyota said FCRD's primary business would be the development of fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles to contribute to the realization of a clean mobility society in China. Since its foundation, FCRD has made plentiful R&D works on the fuel cell systems available for Chinese local CVs.

Founded in July 2021 as a 50/50 joint venture between Toyota and SinoHytec, FCTS aims to build a TPS (Toyota Production System)-based lean manufacturing system this year and is vigorously pushing ahead with the construction of a localized volume production system in China to deal with the drastic market change.

The “TL Power 100” is built on Toyota's second-generation MIRAI fuel cell system and some of its parts are locally sourced in China. Through the local R&D in China that highlights domestic application scenarios for CVs, the new fuel cell system reaches a high power density of up to 711W/kg or 4.9kW/L (rated at 101kW), and a ultra-long lifespan of 30,000 hours.