Polar Daily Original
Author | Yang Chengchun
Edit | Luan Crane
On February 13, snow fell sharply in Beijing.
Haituo Mountain in the western part of Yanqing District is more than 2,000 meters above sea level, the mountain is steep, the clouds are cut off from the fog, and the geographer Li Daoyuan called it "forty miles from the peak" in the "Notes on Water Classics". One night, the north wind blew through, and the humid air in the mountain front basin was lifted, and the spectacle of "sea lumps wearing snow" appeared.
The Yanqing Division, one of the three major competition areas of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, is located in the foothills of Haituo Mountain, where alpine skiing, snowmobiles, bobsleighs and other competitions are held.
After the snow, the temperature of the summit plummeted to minus 30 degrees, and the "sea lump wearing snow" was prohibitive. The mountain road curves steeply, the road conditions are slippery and the visibility is low. How to ensure that the race personnel arrive at the venue on time is an upgrade challenge for the capacity performance of fuel cell vehicles.
At 2:30 a.m., a beam of lights lit up in the P5 parking lot of Beijing Shiyuan Park. The State Power Investment "Hydrogen Teng" fuel cell bus was ordered to connect and transport the staff of the national alpine ski resort. The average departure time of 60 hydrogen energy buses is 22 hours per car per day, becoming the main force to ensure the service of the Yanqing division of the Winter Olympic Games.
01
Change your life against the sky
This is not the first time that Hydrogen Teng has been commissioned in danger, and the first day of closed-loop management of the Winter Olympics has encountered major challenges.
On January 21, high winds caused the downing of the cable car of the Alpine Ski Center, and the Yanqing District Traffic Command Center urgently dispatched a hydrogen bus to replace the cable car connection.
The convoy departs daily at 3 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m. There are more than 200 trips up and down the mountain every day, and an average of more than 3,000 people are picked up and dropped off.
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".
In fact, the Hydrogen Bus bears 50% of the capacity of the city and 80% of the yanqing mountain. With less than 200 units, although it is less than half of the total number of Toyotas in Japan, it has assumed the "half of the winter Olympic power".
However, Hydrogen was not the "chosen son" from the beginning, and experienced a tortuous road from the substitute to the main force.
Back in 2015, Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the concept of the Green Olympics was born.
At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the capacity structure was dominated by fuel oil, supplemented by electric energy. With the passage of time, China, whose national strength has long been different from the same day, naturally must also set an example for the world on environmental issues - guided by the dual-carbon policy and the Winter Olympic Games as the stage, leading all mankind to a new era of not only "higher, faster and stronger", but also "greener and more environmentally friendly".
Why is hydrogen preferred for the Green Winter Olympics? First, hydrogen energy, as the world's recognized "ultimate energy", is the most environmentally friendly and greenest energy source; second, hydrogen fuel cells are involved
The question is, international hydrogen energy technology, Japan is leading the way, is the Beijing Winter Olympics to use all Japanese technology? Can China achieve technological independence?
02
The Birth of Hydrogen
In 2017, Wan Gang, then Minister of Science and Technology, visited Japan and met with Chai Maorong. In the Japanese industry, Shiba is already a top expert in fuel cell electrode catalyst materials and is a member of a 15-member team at Japan's National Battery Development Research Institute (GREEN).
Wan Gang is well aware of Chai Maorong's important value to the development of Hydrogen Energy Technology in China, and warmly invites him to return to China.
At that time, Chai Hadhimoto had lived in Japan for more than 32 years.
"After living and working in Japan for such a long time, why didn't you become a Japanese citizen?" Chai Replied, "It's not that I don't have the opportunity to join the Japanese, I am a Chinese, I will definitely come back, I should belong to China." ”
After going through twists and turns, Chai Maorong is facing a completely fragmented domestic fuel cell market - there are few core technologies, the industrial layout is scattered, and the supply chain is uncertain. Compared with the power system required for lithium batteries, the entire supply chain of fuel cells is complex and long, and the technical requirements are more stringent.
To solve these problems, it is necessary to build from a high vantage point, but also to break it down, to solve a series of problems such as the source, production, supply, safety and transformation of fuel cell vehicles, and of course, the most important thing, the power system problem.
As a result, Chai Maorong, as chief technology officer, led the fledgling State Power Investment Group Hydrogen Energy Company to start a precision deployment. Starting from the systematic structural units of fuel cells, such as catalysts, proton exchange membranes, gas diffusion layers, to multilayer membrane electrodes, and then to metal bipolar plates, from upstream to downstream, opening up the whole industrial chain.
Chai Maorong (3rd from the left) and researchers are working together to advance fuel cells in China
In 2020, the fuel cell stack and power system products developed by Chai Maorong passed the mandatory inspection and officially released, the stack rated power was 88KW, the volume power density reached 3.2KW/L, and the rated net output of the system was 67KW, achieving a low temperature start of -30 °C, leading the industry in terms of high performance, low cost and full autonomy, and competing with international advanced products.
After a series of strategic planning, "Hydrogen" was born, which is the first fully independently developed fuel cell vehicle power engine in the mainland, and its performance is comparable to Toyota's "Hydrogen Engine".
03
Off-site technology competition
In March 2021, When inspecting the Zhangjiakou Olympic venues, President Xi Jinping said: "This is the Winter Olympics on our own land, why don't we take our technology and try it?" ”。 As soon as this remark came out, the industry as a whole was greatly encouraged, and everyone wore the stars and the moon, day and night, determined to catch the train of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Hydrogen Teng first "tried the bull knife" at the Boao Forum in April 2021, and successfully completed the carrying task in a high temperature and humidity environment of 36 degrees Celsius. With the perfect play of the "preliminary round", Hydrogen Teng, which has a "Chinese core", successfully entered the "final" of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and jointly served the Beijing Winter Olympics with the development of Toyota Fuel Cell Vehicle, which has been famous for many years and is internationally renowned.
The stack of the Winter Olympics has been upgraded compared to the stack of the Boao Forum, and the vehicle has been changed from the middle vehicle to Yutong. The stack power is 115kw, the volume power density is 3.4kw/L, the net output of the system is 80.4kw, and the maximum power of hydrogen-electric hybrid is 240kw.
The State Power Investment Hydrogen Energy Company and the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee signed a "military order", promising that hydrogen teng would have absolutely "zero mistakes" at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and would immediately withdraw as soon as there was any operational deviation, such as anchoring and insufficient climbing ability.
Haituo Mountain Road is narrow, steep slopes, 6 km section, 1500 m drop, 14 180 degree sharp bends. But what is surprising is that Hydrogen Teng is no less than or even better in the 'climbing contest' with Toyota's fuel cell vehicles in Yanqing Haituo Mountain.
Moreover, Hydrogen Teng reciprocates 6 times a day, with an average of 10,000 kilometers per vehicle, during which there has not been a single operational failure, which fully demonstrates the strength of central enterprises.
In just a few years, the domestic fuel cell vehicle, which was once considered to be "egg touching stone", washed away all the unprospectful snow and fought a beautiful "turnaround battle".
This Ruixue also indicates that the good year of fuel cell vehicles independently developed by the mainland is coming. Although the egg seems fragile, it can give birth to a vigorous life that breaks out of the cocoon.
From 36 degrees in Boao to minus 30 degrees in the Beijing Winter Olympics, from flat land to mountainous areas, from 3 a.m. to 12 p.m., Hydrogen Teng won. Passing through the halls of doubts, once again showing the world the miracle of "Chinese speed" and "Made in China".
The Winter Olympics are nearing the end, and the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Winter Olympics have successfully "gone out of the circle".
"This time at the Winter Olympics, we Chinese our own technology for the first time, competing with international brands on the same track, and we won! And winning is very beautiful. Chai Maorong said proudly.
China's hydrogen energy development is in the ascendant, and Chai Maorong, a "big country craftsman", said: "Just like the Yangtze River has flowed through the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has the most difficult environment, to the plains in the middle and lower reaches of the river, which is about to be a horse Pingchuan." ”
*Captions and illustrations are from Visual China.
*Disclaimer: In no event shall the information herein or the opinions expressed herein constitute investment advice to any person.