Toyota and Haima automakers are teaming up to promote H2 vehicles in China’s massive market.
Haima Automobile has announced that it has signed a deal with Toyota Motor’s local investment branch in order to focus on the promotion of hydrogen cars in China.
According to Haima, the companies will both use Hainan Province as their testing location, this has been worked into the agreement that both companies recently signed.
Each company is bringing strength and resources to suit the agreement and complement each other. Toyota Motor Corp. will supply a fuel cell system to Haima Motor Corp. to help the small Chinese automaker develop hydrogen powered vehicles. Haima will use the fuel system to adapt its 7X, a multi-purpose vehicle, into a hydrogen powered vehicle. Toyota will then complete the final design of the vehicle’s transition to H2 and will conduct tests on Haima’s H2 supply system and travel network, which it has constructed in China.
The companies plan to start operating 200 test hydrogen cars in Hainan before the end of this year.
Haima said it expects to operate a small fleet of the hydrogen-powered 7Xs as part of a trial operation in Hainan Province before the end of 2023.
Haima is the first Chinese car manufacturer to adopt Toyota’s fuel cell technology.
Toyota and Haima plan to have 200 test vehicles on the road this year, raising that number to 2,000 by the close of 2025, according to the announcement of the agreement by Haima. Once the H2 passenger vehicle market in China achieves a certain scale, both companies will begin exploring the use of the zero-tariff import policy in the Hainan Free Trade Port in order to further solidify their agreement, said the Chinese automaker.
This represents the first time Toyota has supplied fuel cell systems to a passenger vehicle maker from China.
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