SPIC in Full Swing in Green Transport

The first pure electric heavy truck charging station in North China's Henan Province, built by State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC), recently opened for service.

The 24/7 station is capable of charging 100 electric heavy trucks per day.

SPIC has been working on green transport at full steam for years.

According to the Global Smart Energy Summit held in November 2020, energy used in traffic accounts for about 29 percent of the energy consumed around the world. Upgrading and transformation of energy use in that field will therefore promote energy structure adjustment throughout society.

SPIC has always had its eye on hydrogen energy, energy storage and electric heavy trucks.

Development of such trucks has been a highlight of SPIC since 2018.

Powered by low-quality diesel oil, the heavy trucks carrying huge volume release a great amount of pollutant gases like carbon dioxide and nitric oxide as well as particulate matters.

Their electrification will contribute to achievement of the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality.

The company developed the world's first electric heavy truck with rechargeable batteries in May 2019. Its operational cost is only half of the traditional fuel-powered trucks and its noise level is much lower.

At present, SPIC has 34 types of machines equipped with battery-changing technology. More than 5,000 electric machines are used in various projects.

It has also built 66 supporting charging stations in 13 provincial regions including Beijing, Shanghai and East China's Jiangsu Province.

SPIC actually started exploring hydrogen energy much earlier than its work on heavy electric trucks.

An ideal clean energy to be widely used in the future, hydrogen is expected to be a major player in construction of clean, low-carbon, safe and highly-efficient energy systems.

The company launched a subsidiary focusing on research and development of hydrogen power in 2017 and set a target of being a world leader in the hydrogen industry.

Today, it is a main force in China's hydrogen energy development.

A hydrogen-powered bus, jointly developed by SPIC and CRRC Corporation Limited (CRRC), rolled off the production line in December 2019 in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province. The bus can travel 600 kilometers before refueling.

In September 2020, SPIC released a hydrogen fuel cell meeting leading international standards.

In addition, it was demonstrated on Jan 9, 2021 that SPIC and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. had jointly developed a vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle installed with an air cooled fuel cell power system that can operate as far as 300 kilometers.

The Zhongguancun Yanqing hydrogen refueling station in Beijing, a supporting facility of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, is already in service.

The company will continue its efforts to promote hydrogen-powered transportation.

Cooperation is to be launched between SPIC and CRRC and local public transport departments on hydrogen transport demonstration projects in South China's Hainan Province and Ningbo, Wuhan and Beijing.

Auto manufacturers based in Beijing and Northeast China's Jilin Province will also become partners of the company to develop hydrogen fuel vehicles.

SPIC will continue on its path of lowering the cost of hydrogen batteries and improving hydrogen refueling systems to make full use of that energy source and will make ongoing contributions to energy conservation and reduction of traffic emissions.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)