China’s hopes for noble hydrogen in the bike-sharing sector have collapsed as memories leave idle prospects

However, those that residents have seen on the streets of Lingang since fall 2022 are now undergoing “some adjustments,” a Youon online customer service representative said on Monday.

Lingang, a technology hub in southeastern Shanghai, is among many areas in China promoting eco-friendly shared bikes as part of the country’s efforts to cut pollution while also striving to cultivate a low-carbon, technology-driven economy.

According to local media, such bicycles can also be found in other cities, such as Lijiang in Yunnan province, Duanzhou in Guangdong province or Xiaoyi in Shanxi province.

About 1,500 hydrogen bicycles have been made available in Lingang, according to a report published last month in Shanghai daily The Paper, citing Youon’s sources. The company did not respond to the Post’s request for official comment.

Lingang resident Wang Xu said the bicycles disappeared from the streets last weekend after people started complaining on social media.

“I rode this bike three times – the first time it ran out of power halfway through the ride. The third time I had a problem with the return,” he said.

“You may only need a 10-minute ride, but it could take 20 minutes to complete your order successfully… I had already brought the bike to my designated parking space, but the app insisted I didn’t do so (returned it) and continued charging me.”

The accelerating development of the hydrogen industry is included in this year’s Chinese government work report for the first time, as Beijing seeks to reduce dependence on oil imports amid geopolitical uncertainty and meet its carbon emissions targets.

The sector is also considered a source of new economic growth following China’s success in electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells.

Hydrogen still involves high costs in production, storage and transportation

Apart from bicycles, most hydrogen vehicles in commercial use today are trucks because they can travel further distances and are easier to refill than lithium battery-powered vehicles.

However, “hydrogen vehicles in general are not yet competitive with electric vehicles because even though hydrogen is a zero-emission energy source, it still involves high production, storage and transportation costs,” said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Institute for Research in energy policy at Xiamen University.

Noting that most of the hydrogen used in China is still produced from polluting materials such as natural gas and coal, Lin said the country must look for more environmentally friendly ways to produce it.

“This is a new area that deserves patience,” he said, estimating that a relatively mature market may not emerge for about a decade.

According to the government’s hydrogen development plan for 2021-2035, released in 2022, China intends to put 50,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on its roads by 2025 and equip them with a number of hydrogen refueling stations.

The plan also assumes the production of 100,000 to 200,000 tons of green hydrogen per year by 2025 using renewable raw material resources.