On 18th November 2019, Fuel Cell Research Centre (UK), a member of Chongqing Changan New Energy Vehicles Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Changan NEV) was established in Birmingham, UK. The unveiling ceremony was jointly completed by Chongqing Changan Automobile, Changan NEV, Changan UK and Innovation Centre, building a global R&D system technology innovation alliance with clear goals and open minds to achieve these goals.
At the event, with the unveiling by Mr Wei Li, the Executive Vice President of Chongqing Changan and Chairman of Changan NEV, and Mr Anjian Zhou, the Vice General Manager of Changan NEV, Changan EV Fuel Cell Research Centre (UK) was officially established in the UK.
Global collaborative R&D accumulating productization experience
Adhering to the value concept of "innovation, cooperation, and win-win", and following the global R&D pattern of "9 regions in 6 countries", Changan EV Fuel Cell Research Centre (UK) is born out of destiny. The Innovation Centre will focus on the integration and control technology of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle power systems and platform building. Its operation also relies on the UK Government APC (The Advanced Propulsion Centre) project. Within the APC project, Changan NEV will work with the UK's top fuel cell company Intelligent Energy (IE) to jointly develop a full-power fuel cell vehicle, to break through key core technologies and accumulate industrialization experience.
Building core competitiveness
Since the demonstration of fuel cell vehicles in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Changan has been pro-active in the fuel cell vehicle area over the last two years. In August this year, the CS75 extended-program fuel cell vehicle was successfully exhibited at Chongqing Zhibo Conference. This establishment of UK hydrogen fuel cell shows the determination of Changan NEV in fuel cell field. To date, Changan NEV has cultivated a capable and ambitious fuel cell vehicle development and system integration team in China. The overall capability and technologies of which will be enriched and strengthened through its UK Centre.
The successful unveiling of the Fuel Cell Research Centre (UK) as a member of Changan NEV is the technical recognition that has come to fruition after years of preparation and careful planning. It is also an important step of Changan Shangri-La Strategy. In the next three years, Changan NEV will develop two fuel cell power system platforms to fully grasp the integration capability of fuel cell vehicles and make unremitting efforts for the early commercialization of fuel cell vehicles!