On June 30, 2022, the International Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (IHFCA) held its 1st General Assembly Meeting and the 1st Session of its 1st Executive Board Meeting in Beijing. Initiated by China SAE, Faurecia, Sinopec, SAIC, Hyundai, Toyota, and other leading companies, IHFCA is an international, industry-wide and non-profit society organization formed voluntarily by national and regional enterprises, research bodies and organizations in the fields of hydrogen, fuel cells, and FCV industry around the world.
With the presence of Dr. Wan Gang, President of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), and Luo Hui, member of the leading Party members group of CAST and director of the Department of International Cooperation, the meeting was held "online + onsite", with the participation of IHFCA members from around the world.
Presided by Professor Ouyang Minggao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Deputy Director of Tsinghua Academic Committee, the meeting reviewed and approved the Association’s Constitution, 2022-2023 Annual Plan, and 2022-2026 Strategic Development Plan. In addition, the meeting made the Association’s first election and elected the following leadership positions:
- Chairman: Professor Ouyang Minggao of Tsinghua University
- Executive Vice Chairman: Zhang Jinhua, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of China SAE
- Vice Chairman: Francois Tardif, Executive Vice President of Faurecia China
- Secretary General and Legal Representative: Wang Ju, Deputy Secretary General of China SAE
With a focus on international collaboration and cross-sector partnerships, the representatives of IHFCA members made a range of presentations – including Zhang Jinhua, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of China SAE; Francois Tardif, Executive Vice President of Faurecia China; Ling Yiqun, Deputy General Manager of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec); Lee Hyuk Joon, President of Hyundai Motor Group (China); Yuda Shuji, Vice General Manager of Toyota Motor (China) Investment; Chen Wei, Head of Market Development PGMs, APAC, Anglo American Group; and Yu Zhuoping, Professor of Tongji University.
Dr. Wan Gang delivered a keynote speech. He pointed out that China has attached great importance to sci-tech innovation and industrial development in the field of hydrogen energy, and built a R&D system for pure and hybrid electric and fuel cell new energy vehicles (NEVs), control systems of multi-energy powertrain, motor and battery.
China has become world's largest fuel cell commercial vehicle market, and established an innovative system integrating enterprises, universities and research institutes together, with enterprises, either large, medium and small ones, playing the dominant role, added Wan.
During the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, 1,200 fuel cell vehicles with photovoltaic and wind power provided great support to the event in harsh and cold winter weather, demonstrating China’s sci-tech progress to the world, continued Wan.
While stressing that the development of hydrogen energy has become a popular choice for most countries in the world to achieve carbon peaking and neutrality goals, Wan noted that the establishment of the IHFCA will provide a platform to coordinate global industrial resources, deepen multi-level cooperation, promote high-quality industrial development and bring forth a prosperous future.
Wan expressed his hope that all member units of the IHFCA could reach consensus over development and make concerted efforts to promote cross-border integration and open-mind cooperation to achieve high-quality and sustainable development goals of hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry, thus make contributions to building a clean and beautiful new world and a community with a shared future for mankind.