The Beijing Winter Olympics are expected to be the first Olympic event to truly achieve "carbon neutrality". According to the data released by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, more than 1,000 hydrogen energy vehicles will be demonstrated and operated during the Beijing Winter Olympics. In contrast, only three hydrogen energy vehicles were demonstrated at the Beijing Olympics held 14 years ago. In addition, the Winter Olympics are also equipped with more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from Toyota Motor, BAIC Group, Foton Motor, Yutong Bus and other car companies are actively involved in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, the winter Olympic models include hydrogen fuel cell buses, hydrogen fuel cell cars, hydrogen fuel cell special vehicles, etc. Among the bus models, Foton Motor provided 515 hydrogen-fueled buses, Geely Interstellar provided 80 city buses, and Toyota provided 107 minibuses. In terms of car models, Toyota offers 140 second-generation MIRAIs.
Liu Jihong, vice president of research and development of Foton Automobile Ouhui Bus Division and president of the Technology Research Institute, told reporters that the 515 hydrogen fuel buses provided by Ouhui Bus for the Winter Olympics accounted for 63% of the overall hydrogen fuel bus guarantee models, setting a record for the largest scale and the largest number of models in the history of hydrogen fuel bus service international sports events.
Zhang Xiuyang, secretary general of the China Passenger Vehicle Industry Alliance, told reporters that hydrogen energy is one of the most representative hot plates and will have a long-term and profound impact on China's new energy industry. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, by 2030, the annual output value of the mainland hydrogen energy vehicle industry is expected to exceed the trillion yuan mark.
Promote the popularization of hydrogen fuel vehicles
The selection of hydrogen energy vehicles as service vehicles for Winter Olympics can fully demonstrate the application potential of hydrogen energy, rapidly improve hydrogen energy cognition, and benefit the promotion of industrialization. More critically, the application of hydrogen energy vehicles has a unique fit with the concept of this Winter Olympics.
First of all, the low-carbon management report of the Beijing Winter Olympics clearly put forward the principle of "plain electricity and mountain hydrogen", and promoted the use of electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in various competition areas. Secondly, the terrain of Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, as the venues of this Winter Olympic Games, has the characteristics of high mountains and slippery roads, low temperature and steep slopes, which require new energy vehicles to have ultra-long endurance and low temperature resistance, which provides an opportunity for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to play their advantages.
"BEV pure electric vehicles are not suitable for heavy commercial vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells are ideal for the zero emission requirements of medium and heavy commercial vehicles. In addition, the driving route of commercial vehicles is relatively fixed, and hydrogenation is more convenient than that of passenger cars. A person in charge of Foton Automobile told the Securities Daily reporter that Ouhui hydrogen fuel buses use hydrogen fuel as the main power, and the carbon emissions are much lower than that of traditional buses.
Taking the Ouhui BJ6122 hydrogen fuel bus as an example, the car can emit about 57.86 kg less carbon dioxide per 100 kilometers, which is equivalent to consuming 22 liters of diesel (1 liter of diesel emits about 2.63 kg of carbon dioxide, and 1 liter of gasoline emits about 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide).
According to the reporter's understanding, the key components of hydrogen fuel cells include stacks, hydrogen-related pipelines, air pipelines, cooling pipelines, etc. In addition to the fuel cell itself, piping systems for hydrogen refueling stations also need to be developed. The requirements for reliability, safety, environmental adaptability, durability and so on of all these components are very stringent.
During the Winter Olympics, how should the safety of hydrogen fuel cells be guaranteed during the connection and parking of hydrogen fuel buses? "The hydrogen-electric collision multiple coupling technology carried by ouhui hydrogen fuel bus can monitor hydrogen and electric collision safety in real time, involving high-pressure hydrogen storage cylinders, power batteries, fuel cells, drive motors, collision structure safety design and other links, and multiple early warning functions can ensure that hydrogen fuel cell buses are safer." The person in charge of Foton Motor said that after the Winter Olympics, the above-mentioned hydrogen energy buses will continue to serve the passenger service system.
The demonstration effect is remarkable
Although hydrogen has the characteristics of diversified sources, high efficiency of driving, and zero emissions of operation, it is subject to factors such as hydrogen manufacturing costs and the difficulty of hydrogen refueling station construction, resulting in its rapid popularization in passenger cars. The reporter learned that as of now, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles mass-produced in the mainland are still mainly buses, and the passenger car field is basically in the research and development verification stage.
From a global perspective, many car giants have long started the research and development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In 2013, BMW collaborated with Toyota to develop a fuel cell drive system and in 2015 tested the 5 Series GT fuel cell vehicle. In 2017, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the GLC F-Cell fuel cell concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but announced discontinuity in 2020.
Domestically, in 2015, SAIC Motor unveiled the Roewe 950 plug-in fuel cell vehicle. In 2020, the MAXUS EUNIQ 7 launched by SAIC Maxus was launched, and GAC's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Aion LX Fuel Cell, was also unveiled, becoming the first hydrogen fuel cell-powered SUV model in China to board the announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In 2021, Hongqi launched the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Hongqi H5-FCEV; Changan released CS75 FCV; Geely chose to develop hydrogen fuel cell buses; Great Wall Motor released its hydrogen energy strategy...
According to the data released by the China Automobile Association, the sales volume of fuel cell vehicles in the mainland in 2021 is only 1556, and it is mainly commercial vehicles. It can be seen that although the research and development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles was started very early by foreign auto giants, the mass production plan has been repeatedly postponed; Chinese auto companies have successively released hydrogen fuel cell models and mass production plans, but the market terminal has been difficult to see improvement.
"At present, the cost of hydrogen fuel in mainland China is 60 yuan to 80 yuan per kilogram, but the commercial price is also about 30 yuan." Whether it is the development cost of the front end or the hydrogen production cost of the back end, it is not optimistic. Zhang Xiuyang said that in the hydrogen replenishment link, invest in the construction of a hydrogen refueling station with a single-day refueling capacity of 500 kilograms, the cost is about 7 million yuan to 12 million yuan, which is equivalent to 3 times that of traditional gas stations and more than 10 times of charging stations. In the hydrogen transport link, the cost of trailer transportation is low, but the efficiency is too low, and the cost of more practical pipeline materials is twice the cost of natural gas pipeline materials.
However, Zhang Xiuyang firmly believes that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will become a watershed for hydrogen energy to accelerate in China. He believes that with the successful display of hydrogen energy at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, combined with the excellent performance of the Beijing Winter Olympics, it will certainly improve the world's awareness of hydrogen energy, and hydrogen fuel buses may gradually become the main choice for long-distance suburban public transportation and long-range intercity buses.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Joint Association, told reporters that the large-scale operation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles during the Winter Olympics is that the biggest significance is to accumulate research and development experience for enterprises and industries, and provide reference for the follow-up research and development and demonstration operation of the hydrogen energy industry.