On February 16, FAURECIA announced that it has acquired a majority stake in CLD, China's largest high-pressure gas cylinder company, and the transaction will be completed after approval by relevant authorities. So far, the two parties have not disclosed the specific amount of the acquisition. It is understood that this acquisition is an absolute holding, and the two parties will develop and produce Type III and Type IV hydrogen storage cylinders for the Chinese market.
CLD was formally established on July 11, 2002. It was developed by Kejin Company under the Institute of Metals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After more than ten years, it is now a professional gas cylinder manufacturer with more than 300 employees and a total of 7 advanced production lines. The annual production capacity of gas cylinders reaches 30,000. The company's products cover aluminum alloy seamless gas cylinders, LNG vehicle cylinders, compressed natural gas ring-wrapped cylinders, carbon fiber composite gas cylinders for breathing, and hydrogen cylinders for new energy vehicles. At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Slinda’s hydrogen-aluminum alloy liner carbon fiber fully wound gas cylinders for vehicles have been successfully applied, and won the second prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award. In the same year, the product won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award; in 2011, “70MPa” The "Key Technology and Application of High Pressure Gas Hydrogen Storage System" project won the first prize of Science and Technology by the Ministry of Education.
At present, CLD is currently one of the few companies in China that can produce 70MPa hydrogen storage tanks. In 2019, the company's 52L 70MPa hydrogen storage tank was the first to pass the test and won a five-year order of 200 million yuan from SAIC.
In April 2020, CLD became the first hydrogen storage bottle for vehicles in China that passed the hydrogen cycle test (CHG3-307-48-70T/B). In December 2020, CLD vehicle type IV hydrogen storage cylinder passed the "three new" review, becoming the first car manufacturer in China to pass the "three new" review for compressed hydrogen plastic liner carbon fiber fully wound gas cylinders.
With the rapid growth of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle business, Faurecia Group is in an advantageous position in developing hydrogen storage systems, hydrogen distribution services and fuel cell systems, occupying 75% of the entire industry value chain.
Faurecia predicts that by 2030, the annual production of hydrogen-fueled vehicles will reach 2.5 million. Faurecia will also continue to invest heavily and ambitiously become the world leader in the field of hydrogen power.