(Yicai) Feb. 23 -- Chinese auto fuel injection system supplier Weifu High-Technology Group and German tech giant Voith Group have agreed to jointly invest a total of EUR120 million (USD130 million) by 2030 to drive the research, industrialization, marketing, and applications of high-pressure hydrogen storage equipment.

Weifu and Voith will develop technologies to make 70-megapascal high-pressure hydrogen storage systems, achieve their industrial production, and expand their application scope, the Wuxi-based company announced yesterday, citing the memorandum of understanding the pair signed on the same day.

The two firms will invest in the technological research, development, and innovation of hydrogen-storage vessels while striving to achieve large-scale production of such products at different production bases worldwide, Weifu noted, without disclosing any further details.

However, according to an article published by the Wuxi municipal government published on its official WeChat today, the pair will set up a production base in Wuxi for the Asian markets and another one in Germany for the European and US markets.

The two bases, which will be operated by local joint ventures between Weifu and Voith, will have an annual operating income of over EUR1 billion after reaching designed capacity, the Wuxi municipal government predicted.

Voith entered the Chinese commercial vehicle market in 2000, Weifu noted. Voith's new-generation 70-Mpa high-pressure hydrogen system, which received the certification according to Regulation No. 134 of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations, is mostly applied in medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles and non-vehicle scenarios, leading the world in terms of safety, efficiency, and light weight.

Weifu's shares [SHE: 000581] were trading down 1.2 percent at CNY16.74 (USD2.33) as of lunch break in Shenzhen today. The Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.5 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione