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On March 24, Haima announced that it had signed a framework agreement on strategic cooperation in the field of research and development and industrialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with Toyota Motor (China). The two sides will carry out extensive strategic cooperation in the field of research and development and industrialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to jointly promote the rapid popularization and industrialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

According to the plan, the two sides will regard Hainan Island as a large-scale experience test ground, and will use mature components and systems, including Japan's Toyota second-generation Mirai stack, on Haima's third-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to complete vehicle adaptability development and test in combination with the company's self-built hydrogen energy supply system and travel network.

As part of the landing of the agreement, 7X-H, a hydrogen passenger vehicle built jointly by Haima and Toyota, has completed its engineering design and is equipped with Toyota's high-performance electric stack system. It aims to complete the trial production of the first functional prototype car by the end of April 2023, and plans to put 200 units into demonstration operation in 2023, and plans to operate 2000 units in 2025. It is worth noting that this strategic cooperation with Haima Motor is also the first time that Toyota has supplied hydrogen fuel cell systems to Chinese passenger car manufacturers.

Toyota has a strong obsession with hydrogen energy, which is, of course, determined by Japan's national conditions.

As an island country, 94% of Japan's energy supply comes from overseas, and it relies heavily on imports of crude oil, coal and natural gas, which makes Japan have a strong sense of insecurity. At first, Japan preferred nuclear energy, but the development of Japan's nuclear resources was almost terminated because of the Fukushima accident. The biggest attraction of hydrogen energy to Japan lies in its wide range of sources. Japan has successively issued the "Japan Renaissance Strategy", the "basic Energy Plan" and the "hydrogen Energy / fuel Cell Strategic Development Roadmap". Hydrogen energy is designated as the third pillar of domestic power generation.

In the field of new energy vehicles, pure electric vehicles are far more successful than hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but for Japan, what it wants to build is an energy-independent "hydrogen energy society", which is a national strategic choice. and hydrogen vehicles are only one of them. Based on this, Toyota and Honda have invested a lot of money in the research and development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles and launched the FCV-Mirai,FCEV-Clarity respectively, in which the Mirai is a hydrogen-fueled vehicle and the Clarity is a Honda car system aimed at hydrogen, electric and plug-in hybrids.

In 2014, Toyota showed the world the world's first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle, the Mirai, for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and released the second-generation model in 2020, giving the world a taste of the excellent performance and advantages of hydrogen-powered vehicles. However, due to hydrogen replenishment restrictions, only 21700 Toyota Mirai models have been sold since the end of 2014.

Unlike other car companies, Haima Motors has transformed into new energy vehicles, but it has taken the route of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

In December 2022, Haiqi Group and Haima Automobile New Energy vehicle production and sales docking exchange and strategic cooperation signing ceremony was held in Haikou. This is the first marriage between Hainan's largest road transport enterprise and the largest energy car manufacturer to jointly build a green and intelligent travel system in Hainan.

It is worth mentioning that the fourth generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle of Haima Automobile is currently under development and will use better stack, electric drive system, hydrogen storage technology and catalyst to improve the overall performance and reliability of the vehicle. Haima 7X-H hydrogen fuel cell vehicle plans to carry out simulation and demonstration operation in 2023.

Seahorse car aims at the hydrogen fuel cell car race track, which has something to do with the development of the industry. Objectively speaking, among the new energy vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are a very imaginative track.

From a policy point of view, China has issued more than 80 policies related to hydrogen energy at the national level since 2006. at present, 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have incorporated hydrogen energy into the 14th five-year Plan. Among them, the most landmark policy is the medium-and long-term Plan for the Development of hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035) jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration in 2022. It is clearly pointed out that hydrogen energy is a component and key development direction of the national energy system in the future, and it is also the first time to clarify the energy attributes of hydrogen energy at the national level. In other words, hydrogen-powered cars are the trend of the times, and this is the "weather time" of seahorse cars.

In September 2020, five ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Science and Technology, issued the Circular on the demonstration and Promotion of fuel Cell vehicles, saying that they would adopt the method of "replacing compensation with awards". It will reward the urban agglomeration to carry out the industrialization and demonstration application of the key core technologies of fuel cell vehicles. Under the stimulation of relevant policies, the hydrogen energy industry has been actively distributed in many places across the country, including Hainan Province, where Haima Motor is located.

As early as March 2019, Hainan Province issued the Hainan Provincial Clean Energy vehicle Development Plan, becoming the first province in the country to put forward a timetable for "banning the sale of fuel vehicles" in 2030, which shows Hainan's determination to develop new energy vehicles. As the only vehicle manufacturing company in Hainan Province that has the qualification of producing new energy and traditional fuel vehicles, Haima Automobile takes advantage of the opportunity to go deep into the field of hydrogen energy and occupies a "geographical position".

Of course, even with policy support, the landing of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is very difficult, and many traditional car companies in the industry are pulling out of the hydrogen track, which means that the track does not have mature experience to learn from. In June 2018, Nissan announced that it would suspend its plans to develop fuel cell vehicles in cooperation with Daimler and Ford to focus on the development of electric vehicles; in 2020, Daimler announced that it would withdraw from the research and development of hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles; in 2021, Honda announced the closure of the Shirayama plant in Japan and the termination of production of hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles. At the end of 2022, Hyundai said it suspended Genesis, a hydrogen-powered vehicle project originally scheduled to be listed in 2025, because the progress of fuel cell research and development fell far short of its original goal.

As an old car with a history of more than 30 years, Haima currently has fuel SUV 2020 seahorse 8s, fuel MPV seahorse 7X, new energy model 7X-E, hydrogen energy model 7X-H, hippocampal plug-in hybrid SUV seahorse 6P, pure electric model Eisang series and so on. It is worth noting that, with the exception of the Eyson series, all the other models are launched after Jingzhu returned to the helm, with poor sales.

Some market voices believe that hydrogen-powered cars are the ultimate form of cars. Haima Automobile said that the current development and pattern of the automobile industry has undergone tremendous changes, posing severe challenges to traditional automobile enterprises in the areas of technical route and marketing innovation. The company is currently promoting the fourth venture and adjustment, the strategic adjustment period coincides with the transition period of the industry, and the double-phase superposition brings more severe challenges to the company.

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