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In the development process of new energy electric vehicles, pure electric vehicles and fuel cells have long been the two leading technological paths.

While the sales of electric vehicles are in full swing, hydrogen vehicles are having a very hard time. In particular, fuel cell companies in the middle of the value - added chain are facing an "existence crisis".

Prominent start - up companies go bankrupt due to lack of financing. Even listed companies are not making profits but are recording steadily increasing losses.

Recently, Fu Yu, the chairman of Jichong Hydrogen Energy, said in a media interview that hydrogen energy belongs to the new productive forces. Such companies do not develop linearly like traditional industries but must first overcome a large "valley of death". The probability of overcoming this "valley of death" is about 3%.

Facing a cold financing environment, weak market demand and competition from foreign corporations: How can Chinese fuel cell companies "get out of the difficult situation"?

"Hot - money" disappears, lay - offs as a rescue action

The fuel cell industry is a classic long - term investment sector. To remain technologically competitive, companies must continuously invest large sums in research and development. However, in the short term, these research results cannot be fully translated into economic effects.

From product development, reliability tests to large - scale commercial introduction, it can take 3 - 5 years, and there are also uncertainty risks along the way. Therefore, many fuel cell companies in the initial stage are highly dependent on external financing and government subsidies.

In the past few years, it was relatively easy for these start - up companies to obtain financing on the primary market thanks to government support measures and "hot - money". But today, in the face of increasing macro - economic uncertainty, the financing environment is becoming more and more difficult.

Today's investors prefer to "invest today and get returns next year". They tend to invest in projects that can generate quick returns and are less risky, and are hesitant about the fuel cell industry, which starts late and has a long cycle.

According to a report from the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, the hydrogen financing market was on the rise from 2020 to 2022. The disclosed total financing volume increased from 1.75 billion yuan to 10.31 billion yuan. But since 2023, the total financing volume has dropped sharply to 6.15 billion yuan and further to 5.78 billion yuan in 2024, which corresponds to a reduction of over 40% compared to the peak.

Since the beginning of 2025, the situation on the primary market has not improved. According to statistics from TrendBank, in the first half of 2025, a total of 22 hydrogen companies completed financing, which means a decrease of about 23.3% compared to the first half of 2024.

Looking at the financing rounds, it is still mainly the angel round and Series A. This shows that due to the rapid technological development in the industry, investors prefer to support "potential stocks". Companies that received early investment but are making slow progress in technological implementation, cost control or large - scale application seem to have been abandoned.

Take Jichong Hydrogen Energy as an example. In early 2022, the company announced that it had completed a Series A financing of several hundred million yuan. The lead investor was the Xinxiang Hydrogen Energy Fund II of Zhongjin Huirong, and co - investors included Yunze Capital and Shandong Jiangyi Venture Capital.

Zhang Xiangguang, the then investment director of the financing and investment department of Zhongjin Huirong, said that after this investment, Jichong Hydrogen Energy would invest 150 million yuan in the high - tech park of Xinxiang and establish a project company. It was expected that after completion, the company would achieve an annual turnover of 2 billion yuan, reach an operating income of 500 million yuan within 3 years and pay 50 million yuan in taxes to become an internationally competitive fuel cell production company.

But three years later, the "promises" of Jichong Hydrogen Energy to investors are still far from being fulfilled. In May this year, its wholly - owned subsidiary, Xinxiang Jichong Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., was sued by a supplier due to a decoration contract dispute. And after the Series A financing, the further financing of Jichong Hydrogen Energy has stalled.

On the one hand, the "hot - money" in the capital market has disappeared. On the other hand, companies have long been in a "loss trap".

A few months ago, "the first hydrogen stock", Yihuatong, presented its worst financial report since going public. In 2024, the turnover was 367 million yuan, corresponding to a decline of 54.21% compared to the previous year, and the net loss rose to 456 million yuan, almost doubling compared to the previous year.

Yihuatong was the first fuel cell company to be listed on the Chinese stock exchange and has already achieved mass production of fuel cell systems. But due to industry development and the macro - economic situation, the company is still under great pressure. In February this year, it was reported that Yihuatong was looking for a solution through a transaction restructuring with China Xuyang Group.

The situation of some other listed hydrogen companies is also not very encouraging. Guohong Hydrogen Energy recorded a turnover decline of 36.85% and a net loss of 407 million yuan last year; Reshape Energy had a turnover decline of 27.53% and a net loss of 737 million yuan; Guofu Hydrogen Energy had a turnover decline of about 12.55% and a net loss of 210 million yuan.

The above four companies together had losses of over 1.8 billion yuan in 2024. This also shows that even the leading companies in the value - added chain still cannot achieve "positive profits" and will still rely on "external infusions" in the future.

If it is so difficult for leading companies, start - up companies must be having an even harder time. With no profit in sight and difficult financing, many fuel cell companies are already having various problems with capital turnover.

Facing the difficulties in financing and lack of profit potential, companies are starting to save themselves by "saving money", and laying off employees is the most effective way to save money.

The annual reports show that the leading fuel cell company Yihuatong laid off 336 employees last year, corresponding to a lay - off rate of 32%; Guohong Hydrogen Energy laid off 287 employees, corresponding to a lay - off rate of 36%. Start - up companies are also not doing well. There are rumors in the industry that Jichong Hydrogen Energy has already dissolved its marketing department and the department head Jiang Zhiqiang has resigned.

"Too many monks, too little porridge", customers are "driven away"

Fuel cell companies are not only facing the problem of "not being able to get financing" but also a bigger problem: "The products cannot be sold."

According to the data of fuel cell vehicles (taxable vehicles - statistics) from GGII, the number of registered fuel cell vehicles in China in 2024 was 7,075 vehicles, corresponding to a decline of 5.4% compared to the previous year and falling short of industry expectations.

Although the number of hydrogen vehicles sold is less than 10,000, there are over a hundred manufacturers of fuel cell systems. According to statistics from GGII, 96 fuel cell system manufacturers (including subsidiaries) supplied components. After consolidation into parent companies, there were still 62 manufacturers, 8 more than in 2023.

Looking at the number of hydrogen vehicles equipped with components by fuel cell system manufacturers, the market concentration in the Chinese fuel cell industry is still high. The top 10 manufacturers supplied components for 5,181 vehicles, corresponding to a market share of 73.2%.

Specifically, only 2 manufacturers supplied components for more than 1,000 vehicles, 16 manufacturers for between 100 and 1,000 vehicles, and most manufacturers had a supply volume of less than 100 vehicles (some even supplied only a few vehicles). This means that only a few leading companies can get some "meat", and most companies can't even get "soup".

The "Investment Report for Hydrogen - Specialists and New Entrepreneurs 2024" from the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance confirms this. Looking at the turnover of hydrogen companies, only about 10% of the companies had a turnover of over 100 million yuan, about 20% of the companies had a turnover between 10 million and 100 million yuan, and almost 70% of the companies had a turnover of less than 10 million yuan last year.

"The products cannot be sold" is the biggest problem that the fuel cell industry is currently facing.

Currently, Chinese fuel cell vehicles mainly consist of commercial vehicles such as heavy - duty trucks. In the 388th issue of the "Announcement on Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 17 models of hydrogen trucks, 6 models of special vehicles and only 3 models of hydrogen logistics trucks and buses were registered.

The wide application of hydrogen heavy - duty trucks faces three major problems: product performance, cost and hydrogen supply.

For heavy - duty trucks undertaking freight transportation tasks, the range is the most important parameter. Currently, the range of mainstream Chinese hydrogen heavy - duty trucks after one tank of hydrogen is between 500 and 700 kilometers, which is sufficient for regional transportation within a province or between neighboring cities, but is still insufficient for long - distance transportation over 1,500 kilometers.

The costs mainly consist of two parts: the purchase cost of the vehicle and the cost of hydrogen supply. Currently, the prices of hydrogen heavy - duty trucks on the market are mainly in the range of 900,000 to 1.35 million yuan, while the prices of diesel heavy - duty trucks are generally under 500,000 yuan.

In practical freight transportation, a 49 - ton hydrogen heavy - duty truck consumes about 10 kilograms of hydrogen per 100 kilometers. Since hydrogen prices vary greatly in different regions, assuming a hydrogen price of 25 yuan per kilogram, the cost per 100 kilometers is about 250 yuan. A 49 - ton diesel heavy - duty truck consumes about 33 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers, which at a price of 6.9 yuan per liter corresponds to a cost of about 230 yuan per 100 kilometers.

An estimate from the China Automobile Strategy and Policy Research Center shows that the transportation cost per unit of a fuel cell vehicle is about 1.2 times that of a comparable gasoline or diesel vehicle. Looking at the fixed costs, hydrogen heavy - duty trucks have no advantages. But thanks to purchase subsidies and the policy of exempting highway tolls, the operating costs of hydrogen heavy - duty trucks are greatly reduced.

Last year, Shandong issued a policy stating that starting from March 1, 2024, hydrogen vehicles equipped with ETC devices and driving on Shandong's highways are temporarily exempt from highway tolls. Following Shandong, Sichuan, Jilin, Shaanxi and other provinces have also joined. According to an estimate from Xiangcheng Club, the total life - cycle cost (TCO) of a 49 - ton hydrogen heavy - duty truck that benefits from purchase subsidies and is exempt from highway tolls is 4.088 million yuan, which is about 1.29 million yuan less than a diesel heavy - duty truck.

But this is only an ideal state. In practical implementation, there are still many problems, such as the delay in subsidy payments and the inconsistency of the highway toll exemption policy in different provinces (for example, highway tolls for hydrogen vehicles are waived in Henan but not in Jiangsu).

Apart from the costs, a major obstacle to the wide application of hydrogen heavy - duty trucks is the problem of "difficult hydrogen supply". Compared with the gas stations distributed all over China, there are very few hydrogen refueling stations. Take Shandong Province, which strongly supports the hydrogen industry, as an example. By the end of 2024, only 44 hydrogen refueling stations had been built in the whole province.

It is known that the current purchase cost of a hydrogen refueling station is relatively high. The average cost of building a hydrogen refueling station is about 15 million yuan, and it takes 5 to 10 years to recoup the costs. This is the key reason for the slow spread of hydrogen refueling stations.

Facing the limitations of range, high operating costs and difficult hydrogen supply, it is very difficult for hydrogen heavy - duty trucks to spread on a large scale in the short term, and of course, it is also difficult for fuel cell companies to get orders.

On the one hand, the growth of the hydrogen vehicle market is insufficient.