Hubei Hydrogen Power Launches Demonstration Operation of Hydrogen-Powered Cold Chain Logistics on Wuhan-Yichang Expressway for "Hydrogen Vehicle 10,000-Mile Journey", Initiating a New Journey for Green Logistics

On May 27, in the early summer, the launch event for the "Hydrogen Vehicle 10,000-Kilometer Journey" hydrogen energy cold chain demonstration operation on the Wuhan-Yichang Expressway, organized by Hydrogen Power Technology Hubei Hydrogen Power, was grandly held at the SPIC Central China Hydrogen Energy Industry Base. Representatives from government departments, industry associations, enterprises, and experts gathered to witness a crucial step forward in the large-scale application of hydrogen energy cold chain transportation, providing an innovative model for China's green logistics transformation under the "dual carbon" goals.

Since the launch of the national policy for hydrogen fuel cell demonstration city clusters in 2020, China's fuel cell vehicles have accumulated nearly 500 million kilometers of real-world operation, accumulating a wealth of application scenarios and operational experience. The "Hydrogen Vehicle 10,000-Kilometer Journey" event, initiated by the Fuel Cell Vehicle Demonstration Application Support Office of the China Automotive Technology & Research Center in collaboration with industry enterprises, aims to comprehensively evaluate the operational performance of fuel cell vehicles in typical scenarios through real-world verification covering over 13,000 kilometers across the country's key "four vertical and four horizontal" hydrogen energy expressway demonstration lines and connecting five major city clusters, providing authoritative data support for the large-scale development of the industry. As an important part of the national demonstration, the Hubei regional event focuses on the Wuhan-Yichang Expressway hydrogen energy cold chain demonstration line, led and operated by Hubei Hydrogen Power. Hubei Hydrogen Power is a hydrogen energy transportation operation platform led by the SPIC Group. Currently, it operates 259 hydrogen energy vehicles in Wuhan and serves as the vice president unit of the "Jiangcheng Green Distribution Alliance" in Wuhan, representing a model enterprise for green freight distribution in the city.

The demonstration operation route utilizes 4.5-ton cold chain vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cell systems produced by Sinohydrogen Technology Wuhan Lvdong, with a round-trip mileage of 1,080 kilometers. The route passes through the Sinopec hydrogen refueling stations at the Qianjiang and Zhijiangxi service areas on the Wuhan-Yichang Expressway, primarily undertaking the distribution of daily necessities for supermarkets, catering institutions, e-commerce platforms, and other livelihood-related products, providing an innovative model for the green transformation of the national cold chain logistics industry through the integration of "hydrogen energy + cold chain."

At the event site, representatives from government departments, industry associations, and enterprises shared their insights from perspectives such as policy support, industry trends, technological innovation, and business models. The consensus from the discussions was that in recent years, the domestic cold chain industry has developed rapidly with policy support, with the scale of cold storage facilities continuously expanding and the demand for cold chain vehicles increasing. The cold chain transportation industry is also undergoing a reshuffle, with large-scale application, standardized management, and the application of low-carbon technologies being the future trends in cold chain transportation. The emergence of hydrogen energy cold chain vehicles is timely, effectively addressing the environmental protection and cost bottlenecks of traditional logistics and promoting the standardized development of the industry. Currently, hydrogen energy cold chain vehicles have met the conditions for large-scale market promotion in terms of technology and cost. It is recommended that the government strengthen policy guidance and industrial support, while enterprises themselves should also actively innovate their business models, integrate the technology chain, industry chain, and capital chain, continuously expand application scenarios, accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen energy cold chain, support the low-carbon development of the cold chain industry, and simultaneously promote the rapid development of the hydrogen energy industry.

"Hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road, smoothly traversing Hubei", with the issuance of the departure order for the "Hydrogen Vehicle 10,000-Mile Journey", the hydrogen energy cold chain demonstration vehicles on the Wuhan-Yichang Expressway, fully loaded with a green mission, officially embarked on their journey. This also marks that Hubei's exploration in the field of hydrogen energy transportation has entered a new stage of large-scale verification. The successful holding of this launch event signifies that Hubei is at the forefront of the country in exploring the hydrogen energy cold chain field. With the continuous advancement of the nationwide real-vehicle verification of the "Hydrogen Vehicle 10,000-Mile Journey", China's hydrogen energy industry will accelerate towards a new stage of large-scale and industrialized development under the combined effects of technological innovation, scenario expansion, and policy coordination, contributing hydrogen energy's strength to the realization of the "dual carbon" goals.