Source: Overseas Network
A few days ago, the first hydrogen fuel bus demonstration line in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, the 55 hydrogen energy bus line, was officially opened, and the first batch of 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses were put into use. Photo by Wu Chaohong (People's Vision)
Recently, Enric Inc. located in the Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park of Luancheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, a special hydrogen transport vehicle produced for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics rolled off the production line. Photo by Li Mingfa (People's Vision)
On December 3, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green Development", which clearly states that hydrogen energy technology innovation and infrastructure construction will be accelerated, and the diversified use of hydrogen energy will be promoted.
As an important way of utilizing hydrogen energy, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have developed rapidly in recent years. During the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, Zhangjiakou will invest a total of 625 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to provide transportation service guarantee for the event.
What are the advantages of hydrogen fuel cells compared to lithium batteries? When will it be available at scale? This reporter conducted an interview.
What are the advantages?
——Longer battery life, more environmentally friendly, more advantages in fixed routes, medium and long distance and high load scenarios
In the middle of winter, more than 400 hydrogen fuel cell buses are already busy running in Zhangjiakou. It is reported that these hydrogen fuel cell buses have achieved storage and cold engine start in the extremely cold environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius and opened a long driving range of 300-450 kilometers in the warm air conditioning scenario. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will provide transportation service guarantees for the Zhangjiakou racing area and help the green Winter Olympics.
Driven by the "double carbon" goal, hydrogen energy has received more attention. The International Hydrogen Energy Commission predicts that by 2050, the global hydrogen energy industry will create 30 million jobs, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6 billion tons, create a market size of 2.5 trillion US dollars, and account for 18% of global energy consumption.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are an important way to use hydrogen energy in the current transportation field, with hydrogen as fuel, through electrochemical reactions in the fuel of chemical energy directly into electric energy, with high energy conversion efficiency, zero emissions and other characteristics. Wang Yao, assistant secretary general and director of the Technical Department of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told this reporter that compared with lithium battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have sufficient endurance, fast hydrogenation, and green environmental protection.
"Lithium batteries themselves cannot generate electricity, and belong to secondary batteries. Hydrogen fuel can be used directly as a source of power for the car, and hydrogenation is convenient and fast, and it can be filled in an average of 5-8 minutes. Wang Yao introduced that the energy consumption and carbon emissions of hydrogen fuel cells are more environmentally friendly than lithium batteries, not only without harmful gases such as nitrogen oxides, but also without carbon dioxide. In addition, the biggest advantage of hydrogen energy is renewable. In addition to hydrogen production, industrial by-products, hydrogen production can also be produced through coal to hydrogen and by electrolysis of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power.
For consumers, the most intuitive feeling is that the battery life is longer. "Hydrogen has a higher energy density, and with the support of ultra-high energy density, the mileage of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can easily reach or exceed existing fuel vehicles." Taking the Toyota Mirai sold in the North American market as an example, the measured mileage of the new model in overseas tests reached 1,003 kilometers. Wang Yao said that in addition, the low temperature adaptability of hydrogen fuel cells is stronger. In severe cold weather, hydrogen fuel cells will not be affected by the endurance reduction and energy replenishment anxiety caused by low temperatures.
Wang Yao said that the characteristics of hydrogen fuel cells determine that they will have more advantages in medium- and long-distance scenarios and high-load scenarios where the mileage exceeds the upper limit of pure electric endurance, such as relatively closed and fixed routes such as ports and logistics parks. "Pure electric models due to the current technical conditions of the battery energy density improvement space is limited, heavy trucks match the need for long mileage, increased battery will inevitably lead to heavier weight, so hydrogen fuel in the load capacity has a greater demand for the scene will have more advantages."
Why is it on fire?
-- With the support of policies, it has achieved rapid development, and infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations is actively under construction
In 2019, hydrogen energy was written into the "Government Work Report" for the first time. In September 2020, the Ministry of Finance and other five ministries and commissions issued a notice on the demonstration application of fuel cell vehicles, proposing to adjust the purchase subsidy policy for fuel cell vehicles to the support policy for the demonstration application of fuel cell vehicles, and to reward eligible urban agglomerations for the industrialization of key core technologies of fuel cell vehicles and demonstration applications.
With the support of policies, the development of hydrogen energy has been accelerated in many parts of the country. According to incomplete statistics, at present, more than 50 prefecture-level cities in China have issued hydrogen energy industry plans, and Beijing, Shandong, Hebei, Henan and other provinces have successively introduced the "14th Five-Year Plan" hydrogen energy development plan or support policies, clarifying the stage goals from the aspects of industrial scale, number of enterprises, fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen refueling stations, etc.
For example, Beijing municipality has made it clear that by 2023, 5-8 leading enterprises in the hydrogen energy industry chain with international influence will be cultivated, and the cumulative industrial chain industrial scale in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will exceed 50 billion yuan and reduce carbon emissions by 1 million tons; before 2025, the industrial system and supporting infrastructure will be relatively perfect, and the Cumulative Scale of the Hydrogen Energy Industry Chain in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will exceed 100 billion yuan.
At the same time, various localities have also introduced hydrogen energy subsidies and incentive policies to varying degrees. Beijing municipality gives a one-time fixed subsidy to hydrogen refueling stations above designated size in the construction link; a hydrogen refueling station per kilogram of hydrogen operation subsidy in the operation link; and fuel cell vehicles arrange municipal financial subsidies according to the ratio of 1:0.5 between the central and local governments. Shanghai, Chongqing, Henan and other places have also recently introduced local subsidy policies for hydrogen energy.
Hydrogen refueling stations are also under active construction. Hydrogen refueling stations are gas stations that provide hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, and as an infrastructure for providing hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, the number of hydrogen refueling stations has also been growing in recent years. According to the "Research Report on the Market Prospects and Investment Opportunities of China's Hydrogen Energy Industry" released by relevant institutions, as of the beginning of June this year, a total of 141 hydrogen refueling stations have been built in China, 73 are under construction, and 118 are under planning and construction.
"After the state provided a large number of market subsidies for lithium battery-based new energy route products, it has contributed to China's current unique new energy leading momentum in the world and achieved curve overtaking." Wang Yao analyzed that unlike lithium battery new energy vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles need not only policy support to seize market share, but also face the diesel commercial vehicle market with lower cost of use and more price-sensitive operating users. Therefore, the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still a long way to go.
How to develop?
——The market space is large, but large-scale application needs to break through core materials and cost barriers
The industry generally believes that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have a large space for development. According to the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, by 2030, China's hydrogen demand will reach 35 million tons, accounting for 5% of the terminal energy system; by 2050, the demand is expected to reach 60 million tons. In the terminal energy system accounted for 10%, it is expected that the annual output value of the industrial chain will reach 12 trillion yuan. Among them, 24.58 million tons of hydrogen are used in the transportation field, accounting for about 19% of the energy used in this field. This means that the hydrogen energy industry chain is expected to form a "double male" market pattern with the lithium battery industry chain in the future.
However, the current development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles still faces some obstacles.
Some core materials are still imported. "Fuel cell technology has been evolving, and technological advances have led to longer-lasting, better-performing, more efficient and larger-scale fuel cell systems. However, some of these core materials have not completely replaced imported products, and still need to be verified for a certain period of time to confirm whether the reliability and durability of domestic alternatives can meet the demand. Wang Yao said that this is also the reason for restricting the high cost of some parts.
The cost restricts the large-scale application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In the manufacturing process, most of the enterprises in the current domestic hydrogen fuel cell industry chain have not yet achieved mass production, and the investment in research and development of enterprises is high, the output of products is small, and the manufacturing cost remains high. The high cost of each link in the industrial chain is superimposed, resulting in the high cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. "From the overall point of view, although the main core components have been localized and autonomous, a certain scale of industrialization is still needed to effectively reduce product costs and achieve effective competition in vehicle prices." Wang Yao said.
The flammable properties of hydrogen have led some people to "talk about hydrogen discoloration", affecting the application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In this regard, Wang Yao explained that hydrogen has high escape, and under the protection of a relatively open environment and effective storage devices, hydrogen does not have a significant risk of ignition. "Vehicle hydrogen storage technology in the current relatively mature high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage mode, has been relatively safe, while the technology is still progressing, safety will be further improved, so that everyone can rest assured to use." Some people's 'talk about hydrogen discoloration' needs to enhance trust and acceptance through popular science. There are already thousands of hydrogen fuel bus logistics vehicles in the safe operation in China, and in the future, more such buses and other municipal vehicles will appear around the ordinary people, and everyone will have a more intuitive feeling and understanding of the safety of hydrogen. (Reporter Xu Peiyu)
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( December 15, 2021, 11th edition)