[Explanation] On the evening of June 24, Airbus signed a framework agreement with China's Suzhou Industrial Park, choosing Suzhou as the location of the Airbus China R&D Center.
It is reported that the R&D center will focus on research work on hydrogen energy infrastructure.
[Explanation] As early as September 2020, Airbus demonstrated three concept aircraft that can achieve zero-emission flight. The three concept aircraft are all named "ZEROe" and all use hydrogen as fuel.
[Explanation] According to Airbus' plan, by 2035 they will launch a completely zero-emission aircraft.
What technical route will the aircraft take?
Is it directly using hydrogen as fuel for internal combustion engines?
Or convert the hydrogen into electricity first, and then use the electricity to power the plane?
Cheng Long, chief operating officer of Airbus China, said that the company currently has a very strict technical route and various technical directions are being tested.
[Concurrent] Cheng Long, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus China
In general, this technology roadmap is a technology roadmap shared by many parties, because to develop such an aircraft, Airbus must rely on many of our technical partners, including various From energy storage development to application, a large amount of cooperation with all parties is required throughout the whole stage. In our current words, the choice of technology and which technology direction to use are all tested one by one. I believe that within a few years, it will eventually be implemented into a plan.
[Explanation] It is reported that Airbus has signed hydrogen-related projects in many places around the world.
The signing with Suzhou this time is a 5 to 10-year cooperation agreement, which mainly takes advantage of the concentrated supply chain resources related to aviation and hydrogen energy in the Yangtze River Delta region.
[Concurrent] Sun Lu, Head of Airbus China Innovation Center
Take our electric vehicle as an example. Electric vehicle products are one aspect. If there is no good support, it will turn electric vehicles into commercial products, which is unrealistic. Therefore, in this area, our R&D center In addition to the product itself, more attention is paid to the support of hydrogen energy to the supporting facilities of this aircraft to ensure that the Airbus Hydrogen Energy "ZEROe" product can land and serve in China.
[Explanation] According to reports, Airbus has an engineering center in Beijing, focusing on engineering tasks related to aircraft structural parts; an innovation center in Shenzhen, focusing on data interconnection, 5G, including the research and development and production of electronic components; this time The Suzhou R&D Center established under the contract will not only carry out hydrogen energy-related projects, but also promote the implementation of existing innovative projects.
[Explanation] Talking about why Airbus continues to increase investment in China, Xu Gang, CEO of Airbus China, said that compared with other countries in the world, China's industrial chain is complete and competitive, and China is still an important global R&D innovation technology. The birthplace of the world's largest aviation growth market.
[Concurrent] Xu Gang, Executive Vice President of Airbus Global and CEO of Airbus China
China is, and will remain, the world's largest aviation growth market for a long time to come, with strong demand.
The rise of the middle-class population, the current level of only 0.5 times per person per year in Chinese airlines, and the difference between them and developed countries, make all aviation people have full confidence in this market.
Reporter Liu Chao reports from Beijing
Responsible editor: [Tian Boqun]