As Chinese companies aggressively expand into hydrogen vehicle technology, automakers from South Korea, the United States, Japan, and Europe are responding with increased collaboration to maintain competitiveness in future mobility.
While electric vehicles have gained significant momentum, hydrogen vehicles and advanced technologies are emerging as the next frontier of the related industry. However, due to their current lack of economic viability, automakers are joining forces to reduce costs and risks in this mid-to long-term investment.
During a recent meeting in Munich, Dr. Jürgen Guldner, head of BMW Group’s hydrogen technology division, highlighted the rapid growth of Chinese companies in the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market. He explained that BMW’s recent 10-year partnership with Toyota to co-develop hydrogen vehicles reflects the broader trend of automakers forming similar collaborations in response to competitive pressures in the industry.
“At this stage, a few companies such as BMW, Toyota, and Hyundai are leading the early hydrogen vehicle market,” Guldner noted. “However, the increasing number of Chinese companies developing hydrogen vehicle technology, alongside the rapid expansion of hydrogen refueling infrastructure in China, deserves attention.”
Hydrogen vehicles, seen as the successor to electric cars, use fuel cells to generate electricity by reacting hydrogen with oxygen. While their high cost and limited infrastructure are current barriers, they offer advantages such as faster refueling times and longer driving ranges compared to electric vehicles.
With the support of government funding, Chinese companies are making their presence felt in the hydrogen vehicle market, following their dominance in electric vehicles. Global automakers, who had been leading the development of hydrogen vehicles, are becoming increasingly worried. Last year, China overtook S. Korea (34.7%) to claim the top spot in the global hydrogen vehicle market share with 37.1%.
In addition to the BMW-Toyota collaboration, Hyundai Motor Group has formalized future vehicle partnerships, including hydrogen cars, with General Motors (GM) in the U.S. and Skoda in the Czech Republic. There are even speculations that Hyundai may partner with Toyota in the future. Furthermore, BMW has hinted at the possibility of cooperating with Hyundai on hydrogen refueling infrastructure through the Hydrogen Council, where Hyundai plays a central role.
GM has been collaborating with Honda to expand its hydrogen fuel cell operations. Their joint production facility in Michigan, U.S., became operational this January, marking a significant milestone as the first partnership of its kind in the automotive sector. In June, Honda resumed hydrogen vehicle production in the U.S. with the CR-V e, about three years after halting production in Japan.
In the advanced technology sector, alliances aimed at countering China’s growing influence are also emerging. In August, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi formed an alliance in Japan to develop a Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) platform.
According to Gartner, a U.S.-based IT research firm, Chinese companies like NIO, Xpeng, and Geely are gaining prominence in rankings that evaluate the level of digital transformation in the automotive industry for 2024. Meanwhile, automakers from South Korea and Japan have seen little change in their scores or have even dropped compared to the previous year.
