Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese automaker Geely has deployed 27,000 methanol-powered passenger vehicles (PVs), which have run for 8 billion kilometers in total, Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), said at an industrial forum earlier this month.

Photo credit: Geely Holding

For the sake of energy safety and low-carbon technology development, Geely Holding has worked on vehicles powered by methanol for 16 years, according to Li. The company has obtained nearly 200 patents of relevant core technologies, and developed around 20 methanol-fueled vehicle models, including both passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles.

Li Shufu said setting the goal of carbon neutrality will not only bring challenges, but also important development opportunities for automakers. The most efficient carbon neutrality solution cannot rely on a single energy source. To ensure national energy security and accomplish carbon neutrality, it is necessary to apply a combination of multiple measures and integrated utilization of diverse energy sources based on local conditions in different regions.

He also noted methanol is a kind of clean oxygen-containing liquid fuel, which is easy to be stored and transported, and can be wildly used in multitudes of areas. Green methanol points a globally acknowledged way forward to carbon neutrality.

Geely, among a small number of automakers developing methanol-powered vehicles, was testing methanol taxis in some western Chinese cities and developing methanol trucks at its commercial vehicles unit, Li revealed at an industrial meeting held in June.