In Ordos, in the early morning, the temperature was approaching minus 20 degrees Celsius, Chen Rui came to the familiar parking lot early and started the heavy truck. He carefully checked the data on the driving computer and completed the pre-departure inspection work. Towards the mining area, a new day's work begins.
Black smoke is the inherent impression left by people when driving a traditional diesel heavy truck. But the heavy truck that Chen Rui was riding on discharged from the tail was water. "This is SAIC Hongyan 6×4 hydrogen energy heavy truck, equipped with not a traditional engine, but a PROME P3X fuel cell system independently developed by Jie Hydrogen Technology, with zero emissions throughout the process." At present, we have a number of hydrogen energy heavy trucks to form a fleet and put into trial operation. Chen Rui told reporters.
Convoys kept going back and forth, transporting coal from the mines until the evening was over. As the after-sales engineer of Jie Hydrogen Technology, Chen Rui and another engineer of SAIC Hongyan followed the vehicle throughout the process, recorded every data, and sorted out and solved various problems in the actual operation of the heavy truck. The whole Spring Festival holiday, every day, they spent it in a tense work.
Two men, a convoy, stepped on the wind and snow on this land and fired the first shots of the New Year.
A new test in commercial operation
Bumping back and forth on the road, Chen Rui's favorite thing to do is to chat with the driver master. "We are eager to stand in the user's shoes and hear more real voices to further improve the product."
Judging from the feedback from the drivers, they are very satisfied with the kinetic energy and endurance of the fuel cell heavy truck. "There are many mountain roads in the mining area of Ordos, and there are many potholed roads, compared to traditional fuel vehicles, hydrogen energy heavy trucks have more torque, and it is very easy to drive these roads and have a good sense of control." "Transporting goods once, a round trip is about 80 kilometers, basically filled with hydrogen once, this car runs three round trips is completely fine." "I love the center console of this car, it's very technological." ...... These are the drivers' evaluation of hydrogen energy heavy trucks.
The industry generally believes that commercial vehicles are a breakthrough in the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles, especially heavy trucks in the field of long-distance and heavy-duty transportation. "Taking the 24-ton heavy truck as an example, if the pure electric method is used, the photo-lithium battery will be 3.5 tons, and the charging time is long." Heavy-duty trucks are production tools, which are far from meeting their operational efficiency. At this time, fuel cell vehicles can reflect the advantages. Lu Bingbing, general manager of Jet Hydrogen Technology, said in an interview.
However, from research and development to mass production support, to the real commercial operation, each link has to cross countless hurdles. For Jet Hydrogen Technology, it is the first time to run a hydrogen energy heavy truck in a road environment like Ordos.
According to reports, in chen rui's fleet, hydrogen energy heavy trucks fully undertook the coal mine transportation work of this section of the line, and no other fuel vehicles intervened. This means that these vehicles are used very frequently. "At its coldest, the temperature reached minus 23 degrees Celsius, and it was still a mining area, and the road conditions were not good, which was a great test of the durability and reliability of our products." Chen Rui said.
Sometimes, in order to solve the problem, Chen Rui needs to lie on the ground, disassemble the parts in the car, and carefully inspect it over and over again, and all this must be done outdoors. Several times, he was frozen numb. He said frankly, "Low temperature is a big challenge, and we still have a lot of room for optimization." ”
What makes Chen Rui proud is that even in such an extreme environment, the fuel cell system independently developed by Jie Hydrogen Technology can still be quickly started within 30 seconds without external heating.
It was a breakthrough, and it was a start.
Looking forward to, the blueprint of the whole industry chain
When hydrogen energy heavy trucks undertake the task of commercial operation, the pain points in the industrial chain also appear.
"The biggest problem we're facing right now is hydrogenation." Chen Rui told reporters that the hydrogen fuel used in the current trial operation of heavy trucks is filled by transport vehicles, and the hydrogen refueling time is relatively long because the pressure is not as good as the hydrogen refueling station.
For the team, they are more concerned about the cost of hydrogenation. "Without government subsidies, the cost of hydrogenation would be higher than refueling."
However, they are full of confidence. According to Chen Rui, at present, in the fixed route of transportation in local mining areas, there are already hydrogen refueling stations under construction. "Coal mining companies themselves are also building hydrogen refueling stations, and they produce hydrogen through their own output in coal mines, which will not only be convenient for hydrogenation in the future, but also greatly reduce costs."
Not only that, SAIC will cooperate with upstream and downstream partners to build a closed loop of the hydrogen energy industry chain in Ordos: Ordos has sufficient wind, light and electricity resources, can provide low-cost hydrogen energy, so that the use cost of hydrogen energy heavy trucks declines rapidly; Jie Hydrogen Technology has independently developed membrane electrodes, stacks and systems; SAIC Hongyan has a complete vehicle; partners have photovoltaic hydrogen production technology, hydrogen refueling stations, logistics teams, and coal yards, thus forming a perfect application mode of the whole industrial chain.
"SAIC Hongyan Ordos Base Tianlong Plant has been put into operation, and Jet Hydrogen Technology will also build a fuel cell production base here." Chen Rui said, "Not only in the construction of hydrogen refueling stations, we will also jointly establish service stations to provide users with better services and escort fuel cell heavy trucks." ”
The blueprint for the hydrogen age has been drawn, and they are full of expectations for the future. "In the new year, we want to make our products better, let more and more fuel cell vehicles run on the road, and contribute to the country's 'double carbon' strategy."