Halfway through the Beijing Winter Olympics, outside the venues of the three major divisions, more than 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles shuttled through the venues of various competition areas for several days to provide transportation support services for the event, and they underwent a "test" in the ice and snow.
For a long time, mainland hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been trapped in technical and cost problems and have been in the stage of small-scale promotion. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles shoulder the heavy responsibility of transporting the main force, which is currently the world's largest centralized demonstration operation, and the actual performance is very eye-catching. A number of interviewees said that this landmark centralized display not only verified the reliability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology, but also improved the society's awareness of its safety performance, which will greatly boost the confidence of industrial development.
(Wen 丨 Reporter Lu Qixiu Zhongrui)
Undertake 80%-90% of the capacity of the Winter Olympic Games
"Green" is the distinctive background color of the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the requirements of the "Beijing Winter Olympics Low Carbon Management Report (Pre-Competition)" issued by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, in accordance with the principle of "plain electricity, mountain hydrogen", electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are promoted in various competition areas, and energy-saving and clean energy vehicles account for 84.9% of all vehicles guaranteed during the games, which is the highest in the previous Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics demonstrated the operation of more than 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, equipped with more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations.
"In addition to taxis, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have undertaken 80%-90% of the capacity of the Winter Olympics." Chai Maorong, chief technology officer of the State Power Investment Hydrogen Energy Company, introduced.
According to the data, by the end of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles in the country will reach 7.84 million, of which 6.4 million are pure electric vehicles, while the annual sales of fuel cell vehicles have only remained at the level of 1,000 for many years. Why did the Winter Olympics choose to promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that are not outstanding in number and industry maturity?
This is closely related to the characteristics of different technical routes. It is understood that the Beijing Winter Olympics Yanqing, Zhangjiakou area is mostly alpine mountainous, traffic conditions have low temperature and snow, steep slope slippery situation, individual route altitude difference of up to nearly 2000 meters, the vehicle's low temperature resistance, power output, climbing ability put forward great challenges.
"Electric cars lose power very quickly in cold areas and have a relatively low power density." Wang Weidong, director of the China Battery Industry Association, pointed out that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have outstanding performance advantages in low temperature, high power and heavy load.
Jing Chunmei, director of the Scientific Research and Information Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, further said that in the plain area and city, based on the perfect charging infrastructure, electric vehicles are relatively mature; and in the inter-city, low-temperature environment and fuel replenishment efficiency requirements, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have more advantages.
The industrial chain works together to receive experience
Since it has unique advantages, why have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles not achieved large-scale application? The industry generally believes that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry chain is long, and technology and cost are the main obstacles to development.
To serve the Winter Olympics, we must ensure that there is no mistake, and the demonstration operation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is naturally inseparable from the coordination of the industrial chain. Toyota Motor's advanced technology, PetroChina's Hebei Prince City, Beijing Futian and other hydrogen refueling stations to provide gas source protection, State Power Investment, Yihuatong and other enterprises continue to tackle the battery system, China Automobile Center to carry out "stack - engine - vehicle level" low temperature cold start performance testing technology research and standard formulation work...... This is an important experience in the whole industry chain of hydrogen fuel cells in the early stage of growth.
It is worth mentioning that the independent technology of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the Beijing Winter Olympics and foreign technologies have achieved the same stage competition. Taking the core component fuel cell system as an example, the State Power Investment Hydrogen Energy Company has invested nearly 200 hydrogen fuel cell buses, all equipped with hydrogen fuel cell system, the product stack rated power 115KW, can achieve minus 30 degrees Celsius low temperature start, to meet the northern city cryogenic operation requirements, and the fuel cell system has achieved material-level full autonomy.
"There is no shortage of questioning voices in the process of technical research, and the pressure is very high." Zhang Yinguang, general manager of the State Power Investment Hydrogen Energy Company, participated in the whole process of the company's service to the Winter Olympics, "from the preparation of 2019 to the present, I dare not relax for a moment." The requirements of the Service Winter Olympics are very strict, the laboratory data and the actual operation scenarios are still different, everyone repeatedly tested and verified day and night, and found many problems that the laboratory could not find, especially in terms of product reliability, low temperature resistance, and earthquake resistance to overcome many challenges. Facts have proved that domestic fuel cell vehicles have been tested in operation. ”
High-level demonstration accelerates the development of the industry
In fact, as early as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles had single-digit vehicle demonstration operations. "At that time, the maturity of technology was much different from now, and the current technical level of the industry and material technology have been greatly improved." Wang Weidong pointed out that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry chain is long, the entry threshold is high, after more than ten years of cultivation, the industry technology has tended to be complete, and the large-scale service Winter Olympics is enough to prove the reliability of the technical route of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
In Jing Chunmei's view, the demonstration application of the Winter Olympics fully demonstrated the advantages and characteristics of the technical route of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and boosted the confidence of industrial development. "The choice of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the Winter Olympics also indicates the initial recognition of the application of hydrogen energy industry at the national level, and it is expected that there will be more policy guidance and support in the future."
Zhang Yinguang further said that serving the Winter Olympics not only boosted the hydrogen fuel cell automotive industry, but also brought confidence to social capital. He introduced that the company's vehicles serving the Winter Olympics have innovated in the business model, no longer relying on government procurement, but by building a social platform to attract social capital to participate. "Through the localization of materials and technological innovation, the price of the whole vehicle has been reduced by more than 1/3, close to the price level of lithium battery vehicles, which has explored the way for the marketization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles."
The industry generally believes that the technical breakthrough of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is basically completed, and the conditions for commercial promotion have been met, and there will be exponential growth in the next few years, but the real scale will be around 2025. "During this period, the key work of the industry is to further open up the industrial chain, ensure the security of the supply chain, and rapidly expand the scale of market applications." Zhang Yinguang revealed that after the End of the Winter Olympics, the company's batch of hydrogen fuel vehicles will continue to be used, and more vehicles will be promoted in more places this year.
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Produced by | China Energy News (ID:cnenergy)
Trainee Editor | Li Zemin
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