The World Internal Combustion Engine Conference was held in Tianjin from April 19th to 23rd, 2024. During this period, the China Internal Combustion Engine Society Hydrogen Engine Innovation Consortium, with Yuchai as a governing unit, was officially unveiled. This marks a new journey for the development of hydrogen engines, led by key domestic universities, research institutions, and top companies in the industry, contributing to China’s “dual-carbon” goals. Leaders such as Academician Jin Donghan, President of the China Internal Combustion Engine Society, attended the unveiling ceremony, where Yuchai President Wu Qiwai participated and delivered a speech.
Wu Qiwai mentioned that the internal combustion engine industry remains a backbone for transportation, engineering machinery, and agricultural equipment. Substituting low-carbon/zero-carbon fuel power for traditional power is an important transformational path. Hydrogen is an essential energy carrier for achieving carbon neutrality, making hydrogen engines the preferred choice for China’s transportation sector. The establishment of the Hydrogen Engine Innovation Consortium by the China Internal Combustion Engine Society plays a crucial role in the high-quality development of China’s hydrogen engine industry. Yuchai will leverage its leading advantages in the hydrogen engine field to contribute to the development of China’s internal combustion engine industry in collaboration with all members of the consortium.
The Hydrogen Engine Innovation Consortium, guided by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, will focus on national “dual-carbon” goals. It will bring together enterprises, universities, and research institutes from industries such as engines, automobiles, ships, aviation, engineering machinery, energy, chemicals, and artificial intelligence. The consortium will build a collaborative innovation platform driven by hydrogen engine industry needs, promote in-depth integration of industry, academia, and research, address major scientific, technological, and engineering issues in the hydrogen engine industry chain, undertake joint research, break through key technologies and industrialization bottlenecks of hydrogen engines and components, and establish a hydrogen engine standard system to support the high-quality development and application of hydrogen engines. The consortium will fully leverage its platform advantages to transform cross-industry, interdisciplinary, and cross-disciplinary joint strengths into technological and competitive advantages, promote the high-quality development of the hydrogen engine industry, and strive together to achieve China’s “dual-carbon” goals.
It is worth noting that in December 2021, Yuchai successfully launched the YCK05H hydrogen-fueled engine for urban buses, municipal, sanitation, and logistics fields, leading China’s internal combustion engine industry into the zero-carbon energy power system track and initiating the research and development of hydrogen-fueled engines for commercial vehicles in China. After completing the development of light-duty hydrogen-fueled engine platforms, Yuchai began developing high-power hydrogen engines and launched the YCK16H heavy-duty direct-injection hydrogen-fueled engine with the largest displacement and maximum horsepower in China in June 2022, making Yuchai the only professional power system supplier in China’s hydrogen energy field covering light-duty and heavy-duty hydrogen internal combustion engines.
At the same time, Yuchai was also one of the earliest to enter the hybrid power system field and strategically lay out in the new energy power track. In 2019, Yuchai released four new energy power system products: integrated power generation engine powertrains, eCVT power split hybrid powertrains, integrated electric drive axle assemblies, and fuel cell systems, becoming the first Chinese internal combustion engine manufacturer to release a full range of new energy power products.
Currently, Yuchai’s single-fuel and dual-fuel engines using low-carbon/zero-carbon fuels such as methanol and ammonia have also received widespread market attention, making significant contributions to China’s strategic goals of “carbon peaking by 2030” and “carbon neutrality by 2060.”
