Foton Motor Ushers in a New Era of Hydrogen-Powered Commercial Vehicles

As a core component of Foton Motor's hydrogen energy strategy, the Foton Kewen Hydrogen Power System Plant, which integrates the production and manufacturing of hydrogen fuel engines, electric drive axles, hydrogen storage systems, and other products, deeply inherits Foton Motor's technological advantages in hydrogen energy and combines international advanced hydrogen equipment manufacturing processes. It possesses fully independent and end-to-end manufacturing capabilities and was officially put into operation in Beijing on May 30th. This marks a new stage in Foton Motor's entire industry chain layout in the field of hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles—leveraging Foton Motor's years of technological accumulation and global resource integration capabilities, the Foton Kewen Hydrogen Power System Plant will become the core "hydrogen" driving force leading the fields of commercial vehicle hydrogen fuel cell systems and hydrogen storage technologies.

Smart Factory, Leading Green Intelligent Manufacturing

The launch of the Foton Kewen Hydrogen Power System Plant is a vivid embodiment of Foton Motor's strategy of "comprehensive new energy transformation, comprehensive internationalization, and comprehensive intelligence." By integrating Foton Motor's core technologies in the hydrogen fuel field, the Foton Kewen Hydrogen Power System Plant has established three specialized production lines: the hydrogen fuel cell engine production line achieves integrated production, assembly, and testing of hydrogen fuel cell engines; the heavy-duty electric drive axle production line integrates assembly lines, testing lines, and transmission assembly lines; the on-board hydrogen storage system production line covers the needs of medium-duty/heavy-duty truck series models. Among them, the 300kW hydrogen fuel cell engine production line fully adopts electric torque wrenches for all assembly and airtightness testing processes, matched with a visual operating system and an intelligent logistics AGV distribution system, constructing an efficient and intelligent manufacturing system.

The factory deeply integrates advanced manufacturing processes, equipment, and implementations with digital technologies such as the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence to build a highly digital and intelligent production system. Centered on the production philosophy of intelligence and automation, the hydrogen power system plant plans and constructs intelligent logistics solutions, achieving efficient circulation of production materials through intelligent logistics methods such as unmanned goods-to-person picking, storage, and distribution.

In the application of intelligent manufacturing technologies, the factory connects intelligent design and order data transmission, intelligent production scheduling, intelligent warehousing and logistics, human-machine collaboration, dynamic factory monitoring and early warning, energy consumption monitoring, and other process links through the application of a data-driven middleware platform and industrial Internet technology. This practice of integrating digital technologies throughout the entire production chain forms an overall green and intelligent operation mode for the factory, not only achieving cutting-edge digital intelligence levels and green manufacturing standards in the hydrogen energy industry but also striving to create a benchmark for zero-carbon intelligent logistics factories.

Technological breakthroughs drive the leapfrog development of the hydrogen energy industry

As one of the early domestic enterprises to deploy hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, Foton Motor has promoted and applied over 3,200 hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles on a large scale, with an operating mileage exceeding 120 million kilometers. These vehicles have served international and national events such as the Olympic Games and the centennial celebration of the founding of the Communist Party of China on multiple occasions. As a leader in hydrogen energy commercial vehicles, Foton Kewen Motors drives the implementation of hydrogen energy technology through technological innovation, deeply collaborating with relevant universities, research institutions, and enterprises in the industry. It has achieved breakthroughs in key technologies such as low-energy-consumption liquid hydrogen production, cryogenic insulation and sealed storage and transportation, direct and rapid liquid hydrogen refueling, low-evaporation-rate onboard hydrogen storage, and long-driving-range and low-hydrogen-consumption liquid hydrogen heavy-duty trucks, continuously promoting the improvement of the "production-storage-refueling-utilization" liquid hydrogen industry chain.

In terms of hydrogen fuel cell engines, Foton Kewen Motors has mastered eight core technologies of fuel cell engines. The commercial vehicle industry adopts a "large power, high efficiency, long life" metal plate self-humidifying hydrogen fuel cell system, with a powerful power output performance of up to 300kW and a wide-range variable load capacity of up to 70kW/s, which can cover the needs of most long-haul trunk line operation scenarios for heavy-duty trucks in China. Currently, Foton Kewen Motors has created a product matrix of hydrogen fuel cell systems with different power segments, including 80kW, 134kW, 190kW, and 300kW, with a planned annual production capacity of 5,000 units, comprehensively covering application scenarios for different car models such as heavy-duty trucks and light-duty trucks.

In the future, Foton Motor will take the commissioning of the hydrogen power system factory as a new starting point, deeply integrating into the overall situation of the country's energy transformation and green transportation revolution. It will continuously optimize the reliability of fuel cell systems, strengthen cooperation in the hydrogen industry chain, and promote the industrialisation and commercial application of hydrogen energy. The commissioning of this hydrogen power system factory is an important period for Foton Motor's green and high-quality development and a solid step forward in leading the commercial vehicle industry towards the "hydrogen era". Foton Motor is reconstructing the industrial landscape of commercial vehicles with "hydrogen" as the driving force, leading the industry towards a new era of zero carbon.