(Yicai Global) April 12 -- Shares of Haima Automobile soared after the struggling Chinese carmaker said it will join hands with a state-owned firm's research institute to construct a pioneering hydrogen facility in southern China's Hainan province.

Haima's stock price [SHE: 000572] jumped as much as 5.1 percent to CNY3.30 (50 US dollar cents) intraday today, the highest price since last December.

The auto manufacturer and the 101 Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology have penned an agreement to build Hainan's first facility that produces hydrogen from water and offers high-pressure hydrogen refueling services, the Haikou-based firm said in a statement yesterday, without disclosing any financial details of the plan.

The project is expected to be ready by October. The pair's partnership includes storaging and transportation of the low-emission fuel, as well as the promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the island province that is currently being transformed into a free trade port.

Haima is looking to benefit from the government's green energy push. Several ministries said last September that breakthroughs in key hydrogen vehicle technologies will be rewarded. And Haima could use a win. It predicted a net loss of CNY900 million (USD137.2 million) to CNY1.35 billion (USD205.8 million) last year after selling fewer than 20,000 vehicles.

Haima is making inroads into hydrogen vehicles to save itself, an analyst told Yicai Global. The firm has no advantages in combustion engine cars so it is seeking new opportunities in new energy with government support, the person added.

The province has been embracing NEVs. Electric car owners should be able to drive anywhere in Hainan by 2030, the province said in 2018.

Haima will deliver 2,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to places in Hainan over the next five years, according to the firm's plan revealed in 2020.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi