In the future, Weichai Power will continue to attack its main business without distraction, adhere to scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and make greater contributions to the realization of China's "double carbon" goal
"Investment Times" reporter Dong Lin
With the proposal of China's "double carbon" goal, traditional energy sources are facing huge pressure to reduce carbon transformation, and how to improve efficiency and reduce emissions has become the primary issue. At the same time, driven by clean and low-carbon, the hydrogen energy industry has also ushered in unprecedented development opportunities.
In this context, Weichai Power Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Weichai Power, 000338.SZ, 2338.HK), a leading domestic equipment manufacturing enterprise, has struck a blow at the same time in the two major fields of traditional power and new energy industry.
On January 8, 2022, Weichai Power's world's first body thermal efficiency 51.09% diesel engine release and the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center and "Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes" Science and Technology Demonstration Project Operation Symposium was held in Jinan, Shandong, at which Weichai Power announced two major good news - in the field of traditional power, Weichai Power diesel engine body thermal efficiency reached 51.09% for the first time in the world, which is after the company released the first diesel engine with thermal efficiency of 50.23% in September 2020. In the field of new energy, Sinotruk Heavy Duty Truck heavy-duty tractors equipped with Weichai Power's high-power hydrogen fuel cell system completed the first delivery to Shandong Port Group.
While promoting breakthroughs in traditional power technologies and low-carbon upgrading, Weichai regards the development of new energy industries as one of its important strategic directions. Tan Xuguang, chairman of Shandong Heavy Industry Group, chairman of Weichai Power and director of the Academic Committee of the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center, said that Weichai's "double engine" drive, unswervingly realizing the traditional high-end power and new energy power is at the forefront, in the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, it has opened up a new path for the national "double carbon" strategy to diversify energy transformation.
Attaching importance to R&D investment, traditional power technology leads the world
The level of thermal efficiency is a symbol of the comprehensive strength of a country's internal combustion engine technology. The thermal efficiency of the diesel engine body reached 51.09%, which not only allows Weichai Power to play an important role in the global internal combustion engine industry, but also has great strategic significance for promoting energy conservation, emission reduction and green development in China's traditional internal combustion engine industry.
In just over a year, Weichai Power has once again broken through the limit. Behind this is Weichai Power's continuous R&D funding guarantee and the strong technical support of thousands of R&D personnel.
As a national high-tech enterprise, Weichai Power has long attached great importance to technology research and development investment. The data shows that from 2018 to 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021, Weichai Power's R&D expenses as a whole showed a rapid increase.
At the same time, Weichai Power R&D institutions all over the world, with state-level R&D platforms such as the State Key Laboratory of Internal Combustion Engine Reliability, the National Engineering Technology Research Center for Commercial Vehicle Powertrains, the National Strategic Alliance for Industrial Innovation of New Energy Power Systems for Commercial Vehicles and Construction Machinery, and the National Specialized Maker Space.
In terms of power system business, Weichai Power takes the power system as the core, gives full play to the advantages of system matching, and the core technologies of the new three powertrains of "hydraulic powertrain, CVT powertrain and new energy powertrain" continue to break through, and the key core technologies are independently controllable. In terms of the vehicle business, Weichai Power continues to maintain the industry's leading edge in the tractor economic market, port traction market, sand and gravel transportation and other market segments; adhere to innovation-driven, shaping new competitive advantages.
Hydrogen fuel cells enable multi-scenario applications
In the field of new energy, Weichai Power has built a fuel cell industrial park integrating R&D, design, testing, production and manufacturing functions of hydrogen fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells, and led the construction of the country's only national fuel cell innovation center.
In April 2021, the country's only "hydrogen into ten thousand homes" science and technology demonstration project settled in Shandong, the project was undertaken by the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center, and the lead unit of the innovation center is Weichai Power. At present, the construction of the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center and the "Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes" science and technology demonstration project are progressing smoothly and have achieved phased results.
Based on highly reliable fuel cell products, the innovation center has carried out multi-scenario application demonstration work. Weichai Power has developed a full range of hydrogen fuel powertrains ranging from 15 kW to 200 kW in application scenarios ranging from backup power supplies for communication stationary base stations, forklifts, city buses, heavy trucks, light logistics vehicles and mining trucks.
In the field of buses, buses carrying Weichai power hydrogen fuel cell products run in Jinan, Weifang, Liaocheng, Jining, Wuxi and other places, with a total operating mileage of more than 10,000 kilometers; in the field of heavy trucks, the heavy truck carrying the company's hydrogen fuel cell with a full load of 49 tons has begun to run on the high-speed route from Jinan Taigang to Qingdao Dongjiakou Port District; the country's first self-developed Yellow River X7 snow wax vehicle equipped with its hydrogen fuel cell engine has also been successfully delivered to help the Winter Olympics.
From the perspective of these scenario applications, the hydrogen fuel cell engine that Weichai Power has put into operation has truly achieved zero emissions. Weichai Power said that in the future, it will continue to attack the main business without distraction, adhere to the self-reliance and self-improvement of science and technology, and make greater contributions to the realization of China's "double carbon" goal.