Geely focuses on methanol, battery electric vehicle weight deemed too heavy
China (ANTARA) - The Chinese automotive brand Geely is increasingly serious and focused on developing methanol as an alternative energy pathway, alongside lithium battery-based electric vehicles, which they consider too heavy for future transportation.
The Carnewschina website, on Sunday local time, reported that Geely Chairman Li Shufu stated that lithium battery-based electric vehicles could weigh up to twice as much as equivalent-sized methanol-fuelled vehicles.
Li mentioned that several recent Chinese government policies support the development of alternative fuels besides battery electric vehicles, one of which concerns accelerating the overall green economic transition, including the construction of infrastructure for charging, battery swapping, hydrogen, and methanol.
In October 2024, six Chinese government agencies also issued joint guidelines to promote the development of integrated renewable energy bases combining wind, solar, hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol power.
Li stated that methanol has an energy density far higher than lithium-ion batteries, even described as “more than ten times.” Based on this, he argued that methanol-fuelled vehicles could achieve the same payload capacity with about half the weight of battery-based electric vehicles.
He also linked the heavier weight of electric vehicles to higher energy consumption, particularly for heavy transport. Although acknowledging that battery electric vehicles are already widely used in China, he assessed that the weight factor still opens opportunities for alternative solutions.
Geely has been developing methanol vehicle technology for more than 20 years. China’s first official methanol vehicle trial programme began in 2012 under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, followed by national evaluations and expansion phases.
In 2019, eight central government agencies issued guidelines to encourage the use of methanol vehicles in suitable regions. To date, 39 cities in 20 province-level regions have implemented more than 80 policies supporting methanol vehicles in the Bamboo Curtain Country.
On the other hand, Geely is also testing methanol in racing events. The company previously launched a methanol-fuelled motorsport programme after winter trials, with engines described as “fully compatible with M100 methanol fuel,” to test performance in extreme conditions.
Li positions methanol vehicles as the primary solution for commercial and heavy transport, where weight, lifecycle costs, and emissions are crucial.
He stated that methanol vehicles offer advantages in overall carbon emission reductions as well as operational cost efficiency, especially when combined with methanol production from renewable energy.