Leaving a "hydrogen footprint" Thousands of hydrogen vehicles help the Winter Olympics

Per reporter: Zhu Chengxiang Per editor: Liang, Owl

On February 4, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics officially opened. The "Green Winter Olympics" is the main concept of this Winter Olympic Games, after the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee also issued the "Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Low Carbon Management Work Plan", which identified 18 carbon emission reduction measures and 4 "carbon neutral" measures.

Xinhua

The Winter Olympics have become a showcase for all kinds of clean energy competitions. In the 2008 Olympic Games, the development of lithium battery electric vehicles (including electric buses) was vigorously promoted. Compared with the Summer Olympic Games, a large number of competition venues in the Winter Olympics are located in cold environments such as mountains, which brings great challenges to lithium-ion new energy vehicles. At this Winter Olympics, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have become a "new favorite". It is understood that whether it is the Olympic torch or the vehicle transporting the flame, hydrogen fuel is used as a power. According to the data released by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, the Beijing Winter Olympics will demonstrate the operation of more than 1,000 hydrogen energy vehicles (that is, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles), equipped with more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations.

Hydrogen cars at the Winter Olympics

According to FAW Toyota's official WeChat, on November 12, 2021, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee and Toyota held a delivery ceremony for event service vehicles, and Toyota provided more than 2,200 event service vehicles for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Among them, there are two hydrogen fuel cell models, namely MIRAII (sedan) and Costa hydrogen engine (bus). However, Toyota did not say whether the more than 2,200 race service vehicles are all hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. According to the official statistics of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, among the transportation service vehicles used in the Winter Olympic Games, energy-saving and clean energy vehicles account for 100% of passenger cars and 85.84% of all vehicles, which is the highest in the previous Winter Olympics.

In addition, Toyota has also joined hands with Yihuatong and Beiqi Foton to provide more than 200 FC (hydrogen fuel) buses for the Beijing Winter Olympics. It is worth mentioning that in June 2021, Toyota and Yihuatong jointly invested in the establishment of Huafeng Fuel Cell Co., Ltd., with a total investment of about 8 billion yen, and both sides held 50% of the shares. The company is committed to popularizing FCEVs (Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles) by producing and selling fuel cell systems developed by United Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

United Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd. was established in August 2020, jointly funded by Toyota, Yihuatong, FAW, GAC, Dongfeng Motor, and BAIC for 1.67 billion yen, based on Toyota technology for full-process development, jointly with major OEMs and Yihuatong for parts and fuel cell system development. Among them, Toyota holds 65% of the shares, Yihuatong holds 15% of the shares, and FAW, GAC, Dongfeng Motor and BAIC all hold 5% of the shares.

In fact, Beiqi Foton not only uses the fuel cell system of Toyota and Yihuatong, but also uses the hydrogen energy bus of the "Hydrogen Teng" brand of the State Power Investment Group Hydrogen Energy Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the State Power Investment Hydrogen Energy Company). On October 21, 2021, 30 hydrogen buses equipped with the "Hydrogen Teng" fuel cell system were officially delivered in beiqi Foton Park.

Not only Beiqi Foton, but also the bus "brother" Yutong is also using domestic powertrains. On December 15, 2021, 30 Yutong Hydrogen Energy Buses equipped with the "Hydrogen Teng" fuel cell system were officially delivered to Hydrogen Power Technology Service Co., Ltd. to provide green transportation guarantee for yanqing for the Winter Olympics.

Dr. Chai Maorong, chief technology officer of Guodian Investment Hydrogen Energy Company, said: "Now (hydrogen fuel cell) technology is mature, and the biggest problem in China is that the material has not gone through. Fuel cells are similar to chips, where the catalyst is equivalent to the target in the chip and the proton (exchange) membrane is equivalent to the photoresist in the chip. We (Guodian Hydrogen Energy) start from the catalyst and overcome them one by one. It is reported that Guodian Hydrogen Energy Company has realized the complete production process and mass production technology of catalyst, proton exchange membrane, carbon paper, membrane electrode and stack assembly.

Why hydrogen?

On January 28, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee released the "Beijing Winter Olympics Low Carbon Management Report (Pre-Competition)", saying that it will promote electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in various competition areas in accordance with the principle of "plain electricity and mountain hydrogen".

Why use hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in mountainous areas? Chai Maorong said: "The Winter Olympics are different from the Summer Olympic Games, and more than 70% of the events are in the mountains. Whether it is Chongli in Zhangjiakou or Haituo Mountain in Yanqing, the temperature on the mountain is below minus 20 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, basically no electric car can climb up, because the electric car cannot work at minus 20 degrees Celsius. In addition, yanqing division from bottom to top, there is an altitude difference of 1500 meters, from Beijing downtown to Yanqing all the way is climbing, which is also a test for the climbing ability of lithium battery electric vehicles. Compared to flat land, climbing consumes much more electricity. ”

Qiu Chen, vice president of China Light Power Investment Asset Management Co., Ltd., told the "Daily Economic News" reporter: "The electrolyte will be frozen at low temperatures, and in theory (lithium battery electric vehicles) cannot be used below zero degrees Celsius." In the process of solving this problem, major manufacturers use the same method. That is, in the process of charging, when the charging pile is connected to the end of the car, part of the energy is to heat the battery pack and restore the activity of the battery pack. If the temperature reaches minus 20 degrees Celsius, it is completely useless. (Lithium) batteries can't use all the energy for heating, the car is for running rather than being a warm baby. ”

Since hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are better than lithium battery electric vehicles in many fields such as endurance and low temperature environment, will this industry accelerate its development with the help of the Beijing Winter Olympics? In this regard, Chai Maorong said: "There will be a small climax, but it is still a little early. At present, the industrial chain has not been opened, in addition to our production line, basically few enterprises have production lines, and it takes two to three years to increase production capacity. At present, it is like the lithium battery industry around 2010 and 2011. It may take about three years for the [hydrogen fuel cell industry] to really usher in the outbreak period. ”

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