The future looks bright in the home market of Impact Coatings (China), where Regional President Yaowen Wang and the Coating Service Center (CSC) team are currently (November 2025) producing 24 hours per day, six days per week, to support the company’s hydrogen fuel cell industry customers. Recent policy signals from the Chinese government and associated industry organizations indicate there will be more work to come.

In October, the China Society of Automotive Engineers, with guidance from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the Roadmap 3.0 for Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). Among other things, the new release of the roadmap predicts the number of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to exceed 500,000 in 2030, 1 million in 2035, and 4 million in 2040.

China has accounted for about 50% of global sales of FCEVs in recent years, primarily rolling out commercial FCEVs, like heavy-duty trucks and buses. There were an estimated 25,000 FCEVs in the country at the beginning of 2025, where heavy-duty applications are also expected to dominate future deployment. Advantages in commercial applications, such as 5-10 minute refueling time, around 600-km range, reliable cold-weather performance, and significantly lower weight than batteries, make the hydrogen fuel cell powertrain ideal for logistics and long-distance transportation for the vast distances across China.

Meanwhile, Hydrogen Energy is one of the priority strategic industries in China’s new 15^th Five-Year Plan for 2026-2030.

The document of “Recommendations” for the five-year plan was adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee on October 20-23, 2025. The Recommendations propose to create emerging pillar industries and accelerate the development of strategic emerging industry clusters such as new energy, new materials, and aerospace.

The Recommendations also propose forward-looking planning for future industries, promoting quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embody intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications as new economic growth drivers.

One area that is not expected to be included in the forthcoming Five-Year Plan is NEVs (New Energy Vehicles), primarily due to global overcapacity for battery-electric cars. While NEVs include FCEVs, the focus on hydrogen energy, including its production, infrastructure and applications for hydrogen, is expected to have an overall positive push forward also for the FCEV industry.

The 15^th Five-Year Plan is expected to be released and adopted in March 2026.

To meet forecasted volumes, the Impact Coatings (China) Coating Service Center in Shanghai already 2024 received its first high-volume INLINECOATER™ IC2000 PVD equipment, which is primarily used for the Premium FC bipolar plate coating for PEM fuel cells used in heavy-duty FCEV applications.

The facility has been optimized for bipolar plates and related hydrogen components, featuring an automated cleaning line, robotic material handling, as well as automated post-coating inspection, all taking place in a cleanroom environment.

“China is today the global leader in the roll-out of fuel cell trucks and other commercial fuel cell vehicles. Our Premium FC coating provides the cost-efficiency, robustness and long life required by the OEMs and their fuel cell stack manufacturers,” said Yaowen Wang, Regional President, China.

“Our collaboration throughout many years with Impact Coatings has been of great importance for the successful establishment of our large inhouse PVD coating facility based on several PVD coating units from Impact Coatings.

By utilizing the high flexibility and quality of the PVD machines from Impact Coatings we have been able to build up a highly efficient coating production facility for our extensive portfolio of protective and decorative PVD coatings all matching the world class level of our high-end eyewear frames.”

Impact Coatings has entered into a collaboration with Smoltek Hydrogen to explore the potential integration of Smoltek Hydrogen’s carbon nanofiber (CNF) technology into the Impact Coatings INLINECOATER™ series of PVD systems.

Carbon nanofibers have the potential to significantly enhance the performance of coatings used in PEM electrolyzers and PEM fuel cells – two critical applications in the transition to green hydrogen.

The aim of the collaboration is to evaluate whether Smoltek’s proprietary CNF technology for growth of nanofiber can be effectively integrated into Impact Coatings’ INLINECOATER systems, and to validate the scalability and industrial feasibility of manufacturing CNF-enhanced coatings in volume production environments.

Jonas Nilsson, CEO of Impact Coatings:
“We look forward to working with Smoltek Hydrogen to explore how their innovative CNF technology can complement and strengthen our coating technology offering. By combining our expertise in PVD coatings with their groundbreaking materials, we aim to develop solutions that meet future needs in hydrogen production and fuel cells.”

Ellinor Ehrnberg, CEO of Smoltek Hydrogen:
“This collaboration with Impact Coatings is an important opportunity to further explore the potential of our CNF technology and bring it closer to commercialization. By combining our expertise in carbon nanofibers with Impact Coatings’ experience in PVD technology, we look forward to jointly exploring new ways to enhance performance in critical applications such as PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells.”

The INLINECOATER™ series, comprising the IC500, IC500+, and IC2000, will now be available with optional HiPIMS (High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering) technology as a customer-specific feature. HiPIMS enables improved coating uniformity and performance in tailored applications. The technology requires specialized power supplies, which will be provided by Swedish company Ionautics AB, a spin-off from the research environment at Linköping University.

“Together with Ionautics, we have successfully tested the HiPIMS technology at one of our INLINECOATER customers, with very positive results,” said Kristian Hillgren, CTO at Impact Coatings. The test involved retrofitting an existing INLINECOATER IC500 with HiPIMS power supplies from Ionautics. The retrofit was carried out jointly by engineers from both companies, with coating process optimization conducted in close collaboration with the customer’s experts.

Successful tests were performed on the INLINECOATER™ IC500 using HiPIMS power supplies from Ionautics

HiPIMS technology will be offered as an option for all machine types in the INLINECOATER series, with first deliveries expected in Q3 2025. Retrofit solutions will also be available for existing INLINECOATER systems upon request.

Jonas Nilsson, CEO of Impact Coatings, commented:
“By combining our expertise in building machines for high-volume production with Ionautics’ deep knowledge of coatings and power supply technology, we can quickly deliver new, commercially viable solutions that meet the demands of large-scale manufacturing.”

Johan Ahlström, CEO of Ionautics, added:
“Impact Coatings’ systems – designed for both prototyping and high-volume production – together with the collaborative opportunities at their Coating Service Center in Linköping, make them an ideal partner for commercializing next-generation HiPIMS-based coatings.”

About HiPIMS

HiPIMS, or High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering, is an advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology that uses short, high-power pulses to create dense, uniform, and high-quality thin films. Compared to conventional sputtering, HiPIMS enables better control over film structure, improved adhesion, and enhanced performance in demanding applications. The technology is particularly suited for precision coatings in industries such as automotive, electronics, and hydrogen energy.