Chinese startup Grove enters the fuel cell car business
28. May 2019The start-up company Grove is another Chinese carmaker that focuses on alternative drive systems, but unlike most of its domestic competitors, Grove plans to drive its vehicles with fuel cells. A development partnership has already been established with the renowned Pininfarina design studio and two concept studies will be presented at the current Auto Shanghai trade fair. Although there are no further technical details about the two vehicles – the Granite sedan and the SUV Obsidian – Grove plans to start series production as early as 2020.
For the introduction and testing of the new models, Grove has agreed to cooperate with a district of the Chinese city of Chongqing and the car rental company Chongqing Panda. The project involves the use of 200 fuel cell cars from Grove. In the following years, an expansion into 20 further Chinese cities with a fleet of 10,000 vehicles is planned. In addition to the Chinese market, Grove plans to sell its cars abroad, including Australia and New Zealand.
Grove Hydrogen is a subsidiary of the Chinese Institute of Geosciences and Environment (IGE), which produces and sells hydrogen from industrial waste. In the coming years, the institute plans to set up the appropriate infrastructure to refuel the hydrogen in large Chinese cities. The car manufacturer Grove has its headquarters in Wuhan and a development and design centre in Barcelona. Further production sites, presumably in China, are to be announced in the course of the year. In addition to Pininfarina’s support in design, Grove has also obtained help from Germany, and there are development partnerships with Hofer Powertrain and the FEV Group. Follow the example of these two companies and take the opportunity to export your products to China. We will be happy to advise you on the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) which is obligatory.
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