Transforming the hydrogen car industry

In partnership with Tianjin University, Professor Jin Xuan and his team have developed a unique digital platform that tests hydrogen fuel cell engines.

Funded by the Royal Society’s Newton Advanced Fellowship, this collaboration has allowed the Loughborough team to apply its world-leading artificial intelligence know-how to a fuel cell simulation platform developed in China.

The commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cells within the automotive industry is currently limited by low performance and high costs. The new digital test platform is accelerating the R&D process and making it far less expensive.

The platform was used by Dalian-based fuel cell manufacturer, Sunrise Power, to successfully develop China’s first 5,000-hour fuel cell automotive engine. It also supported the development of FAW’s Hongqi H5 fuel cell car, and SAIC’s ground-breaking ROEWE 950.

By working together, the international team are making expensive prototypes a thing of the past and accelerating the development process – exemplifying both countries’ pledge to develop the hydrogen economy in a bid to find sustainable transport solutions.