Air Liquide and Houpu join forces to foster the development of the hydrogen refueling infrastructure in China

Air Liquide and Sichuan Houpu Excellent Hydrogen Energy Technology, a wholly-owned affiliate of Chengdu Huaqi Houpu Holding (“Houpu”), have signed on November 2, 2018 an agreement to cooperate for the development, the manufacturing and the commercialization of hydrogen stations for fuel cell electric vehicles. This agreement comes in the context of the Chinese government’s 13th five-year plan, which aims notably to support the development and sale of hydrogen-powered electric vehicles serving clean mobility.

The two companies intend to collaborate for the joint development of full value chain projects to foster the build-up of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure in China. This cooperation would bring together Air Liquide’s global technology expertise for hydrogen solutions and Houpu’s expertise for station manufacturing and construction, leveraging on Houpu’s leadership for CNG/LNG (Compressed Natural Gas/Liquid Natural Gas) stations in the Chinese market. With this unique know-how combination, Air Liquide and Houpu would provide customers with state-of-the-art hydrogen solutions and address the fast-growing market demand for environmental-friendly solutions in China.  

This agreement illustrates Air Liquide’s contribution to the energy transition challenge, where it drives innovation in clean mobility and offers alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels. Hydrogen is a solution to the challenge of clean transport and thus contributes to improving air quality. When used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen from the air to produce electricity by releasing only water. Air Liquide controls the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production to storage, distribution and application development for end users.