The Chinese brand Deepal, owned by Changan, announced work on the second generation of fuel cell systems. The ambitious goal: to make hydrogen a real alternative for the mass consumer by 2027.
Development that is already working
Deepal's General Manager of Product Development Yu Cheng stated that their first-generation system has already passed the commercialization stage. It can be found under the hood of the hydrogen version of the Deepal SL03 sedan. This car promises a range of over 700 km in the CLTC cycle and refuels in minutes — this is the main advantage of hydrogen over traditional electric cars, which force owners to 'hang out' at charging stations.
According to company representatives, the performance of their current system is 10% ahead of market standards. However, Changan does not intend to stop at what has been achieved, understanding that the main barrier to hydrogen today is not the technology itself, but its prohibitive cost.
Second generation: battle for cost
The main focus in the development of the new system is on radically reducing costs. This applies not only to the fuel cell stack itself but also to hydrogen storage systems — high-pressure cylinders. Deepal plans to significantly increase system efficiency while cutting costs to make the next model competitive against hybrids and electric cars.
Hydrogen or batteries?
Currently, there are about 30,000 hydrogen vehicles in China, but most of them are heavy trucks and buses. Changan is not trying to replace passenger electric vehicles with hydrogen models. The company is developing these areas in parallel.
For now, hydrogen remains a niche product due to the high cost of fuel and the limited network of gas stations. However, interest in alternatives is growing: in particular, Geely is considering hydrogen options in parallel with hybrid systems for the Galaxy series cars.
