South Korea’s Kyunghyang Shimbun reported on the 11th that global sales of new energy vehicles using hydrogen fuel dropped significantly from January to July this year compared with the same period last year. Data released by South Korean market research organization SNE Research on the same day showed that in the first seven months of this year, a total of 9,619 new hydrogen vehicles were sold globally, a year-on-year decrease of 9.6%.
Especially in South Korea, which ranks among the top in global sales, sales in the first seven months of this year were only 3,390 vehicles, a decrease of 38.7% compared with the same period last year. This number can be described as insignificant compared to the global sales of electric vehicles in the same period.
The survey shows that unlike the fierce competition in the lithium battery electric vehicle market and the price wars waged by many car companies, the sales of hydrogen energy vehicles have experienced reverse growth. This result is largely caused by insufficient supporting facilities, high usage costs, and limited vehicle selection. Even Hyundai Motor, the world's largest seller in this category, saw sales of its hydrogen fuel cell car "NEXO" and bus "ElecCity" fall by 40% in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year. The second-ranked Toyota hydrogen energy vehicle sold only 2,884 units in the first seven months of this year.
South Korea's "Asia Today" reported on the 11th that in the first seven months of this year, global electric vehicle sales increased by 40% year-on-year. However, the sales of hydrogen energy electric vehicles were less than 10,000 units, making the outside world pessimistic about the prospects of hydrogen energy vehicles. Some experts believe that South Korea and Japan are now the global leaders in hydrogen energy vehicles, but this track will face great challenges in the future. The unit price of hydrogen energy vehicles produced in South Korea is more than 50 million won (approximately 274,500 yuan). Even if the government provides subsidies, their prices are not popular among consumers. At present, global sales of electric vehicles have exceeded 10 million, with China and the United States playing a leading role. The development blueprint launched by Hyundai Motor in June this year still regards hydrogen energy vehicles as its main development direction, but the outside world is not optimistic about this.
Some analysts believe that if South Korea's automobile industry no longer focuses on the field of electric vehicles, it will face greater pressure in the future. Some experts believe that even if Hyundai Motor develops a new hydrogen car engine, it will take at least five years to achieve full commercialization. Lee Hang-joo, president of the Korea Automotive Convergence Technology Institute, said that building a hydrogen charging station requires about 3 billion won in funds, which is beyond the reach of ordinary businesses. Therefore, if the Korean government does not come forward to promote it, the popularization of hydrogen charging facilities will be difficult to achieve. Li Hengjiu believes that in the absence of insufficient infrastructure such as charging, hydrogen energy vehicles will face failure even if they are promoted. Therefore, South Korea should look at the strategic track of the automobile industry from a long-term perspective.