China Allocates $321 Million to Boost Regional Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle Deployment
Vehicles operated by Hubei Hydrogen Power Company are queuing up to refuel with hydrogen (Photo: Sinopec)
China has significantly ramped up funding to support hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) demonstration projects, distributing $321 million (2.34 billion yuan) in its third annual subsidy round.
Total funding now surpasses $700 million (5.11 billion yuan) over three years, underscoring China's aggressive push to become the global leader in hydrogen vehicle adoption.
The Chinese Ministry of Finance announced on April 21, 2025, the allocation of 2.34 billion yuan ($321.5 million) to 28 urban districts within 10 provincial regions—including Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei—for the third year of its ambitious fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) demonstration initiative. This marks a significant increase of 44.2% over the second year's funding, highlighting China's ongoing commitment to hydrogen technology.
Leading recipients in this round include Tangshan with 479 million yuan ($65.8 million), Beijing with 450 million yuan ($61.8 million), Shanghai receiving 419 million yuan ($57.5 million), Zhengzhou with 259 million yuan ($35.5 million), and Tianjin obtaining 168 million yuan ($23.1 million). These "five tigers" collectively dominate China's hydrogen demonstration landscape.
China's FCEV program aims to accelerate the commercialization and development of hydrogen fuel-cell technology through substantial government incentives. Subsidies for the demonstration clusters are capped at 1.87 billion yuan ($256.8 million) each over four years, with a total funding ceiling of 9.35 billion yuan ($1.28 billion) for all clusters combined. With current distributions totaling 5.11 billion yuan ($701 million), roughly 54.6% of the available funding has now been allocated.
The demonstration program, initiated in August 2022, has progressively accelerated subsidy disbursement—first-year funding was distributed in April 2024, second-year funding in November 2024, and the current third-year funding in April 2025. Despite this pace, only 15,850 vehicles (48.8%) of the targeted 32,455 have been deployed as of March 2025, leaving a substantial 51.2% gap to be filled within the final year of the program.
Recently, the initiative expanded its scope, adding six new cities—Luliang, Puyang, Jiyuan, Dalian, Cangzhou, and Hami—which are expected to deploy over 4,000 additional FCEVs by the end of 2025. Foshan in Guangdong Province has also launched a tender for 1,000 hydrogen logistics vehicles, signaling robust local efforts to boost hydrogen adoption.
Cross-regional infrastructure advancements have also emerged, including the newly inaugurated Western Land-Sea New Corridor “Hydrogen Corridor,” emphasizing heavy-duty hydrogen trucking routes beyond urban clusters.
"With the support of national policies, it will not be difficult to increase the volume of hydrogen vehicles," indicates confidence from officials closely observing China's strategic hydrogen deployment efforts.
