The initiation ceremony for a new industry chain that focuses on wind-to-hydrogen and solar-to-hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles was held at Beiben Trucks Group Co in Baotou city, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on March 19.

Beiben Trucks Group Co, China Huadian Inner Mongolia Energy Co, and Mingyang Group, along with their partner enterprises, will jointly create this industry chain. It will be composed of a hydrogen energy technology innovation platform, hydrogen fuel-cell heavy truck manufacturing plants, hydrogen fuel-cell stack production workshops, digital energy storage equipment manufacturing enterprises, and coal-green transportation companies.

In recent years, Baotou has been building a new energy equipment manufacturing base to promote the development of its new energy industry. The city has supported Beiben in developing its battery, electric drive, and electric control systems, as well as assisted the company in carrying out the renewal and iteration of old fuel-heavy trucks.

This collaboration is driven by the construction of China Huadian Inner Mongolia Energy Co's 200,000-kilowatt new energy hydrogen production demonstration project in Baotou. The project commenced construction in March 2023 and produced its first canister of high-purity hydrogen on Dec 1 of the same year.

After the project is put into operation, it will generate 552 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, and produce 7,800 metric tons of green hydrogen per year. Calculated based on the standard coal consumption, this project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 430,000 tons, sulfur dioxide by about 60 tons, and nitrogen oxides by about 84 tons per year.

On Feb 1, the green hydrogen produced by the project was loaded into the newly launched hydrogen-powered heavy trucks of Beiben. On March 19, the first batch of 15 Beiben hydrogen-powered heavy trucks was officially delivered to China Huadian Inner Mongolia Energy Co, marking the first commercial operation of hydrogen energy vehicles in the autonomous region.

The first batch of 15 Beiben hydrogen-powered heavy trucks. [Photo/Baotou news network]

Then, a total of 160 Beiben hydrogen-powered heavy trucks will be delivered, and they will all be used in coal transportation scenarios at thermal power plants. It is expected that China Huadian Inner Mongolia Energy Co will increase its order for these trucks to 300 in the future.

"Compared with electric heavy trucks, hydrogen-powered heavy trucks can increase transportation mileage to 300 kilometers. This covers the transportation route from Ordos city to Baotou city in one go, thus solving the mileage shortage of electric heavy trucks," said Zhao Jie, director of Beiben's major project department.