Grove to launch hydrogen fuel cell vehicle

Grove Hydrogen Automotive Co, based in Wuhan, Hubei province, has launched its brand called Grove and will unveil its first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in April.

“We are not content with just offering a car which provides power in a clean way, but we have developed a car with a series of cutting-edge technologies that aims to take our drivers and passengers further,” said Hao Yiguo, its chairman.

The first model, a sports-oriented activity vehicle, will be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show in April this year.

The company said its self-developed powertrain can enable vehicles to run more than 1,000 kilometers on a single tank of hydrogen.

Main vehicle testing and validation for one of Grove models will be completed in 2019 and its cars will be seen on the road this year. Volume production will begin in 2020.

Grove said it will begin taking orders for its first car at the Shanghai motor show from Chinese customers, with delivery expected to start in 2020. Action plans for overseas markets will start in 2020.

It plans to release a number of vehicles within the coming years and aspires to become a globally leading player by 2025.

In China Grove’s parent company, the Institute of Geosciences and Environment, manufactures and distributes hydrogen from extraction from industrial waste.

Grove said its cars of various sizes will feature exceptional range per tank which takes only a few minutes to fill.

It said a global team of engineers have worked with international partners to ensure their vehicles have the best technologies.

Grove has built a design center in Barcelona, Spain, which is in charge of car designs, including the one soon to be unveiled in Shanghai. The center has a team of excellent designers led by Christopher Reitz, former head of design at a number of carmakers including Fiat at Fiat.

Grove said IGE’s cooperation between major cities will roll out step by step. Efforts will start in tier-one cities in 2020, tier-two cities in 2021 and then throughout other big cities in China from 2022.

The company’s experience centers will open later this year in some major cities.

“Grove will be where our customers are, not expecting them to come to us,” said Brendan Norman, chief strategy, sales and marketing officer and a co-founder of Grove.