Deep | hydrogen energy vehicle track needs to accelerate the three-dimensional layout

Hydrogen refueling station Hydrogen fuel vehicle new infrastructure

Total 3800 words| the recommended reading time is 5 minutes

Wen | China Automotive News Network Du Juan

Under the goal of "double carbon", how to find the development track suitable for the actual development of the mainland automobile industry, seize the opportunity and seize the opportunity is a topic that the entire industry continues to discuss. As a clean energy source, hydrogen energy plays an increasingly important role in the field of new energy vehicles. The hydrogen energy industry is also considered to be an important support for the double carbon target.

In the second half of 2021, at an automobile production and investment salon, Bai Yimin, vice chairman of the New Infrastructure Investment Committee of the Investment Association of China and a long-time researcher of East Asia Syntao, shared the business models of Mitsui and Toyota.

In Bai Yimin's observation, while the new forces of China's Internet car-making are competing for electric vehicle tracks, traditional automobile companies (large state-owned enterprises and several well-known private enterprises) that are not bad for money are silently laying out hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which is basically consistent with Toyota's industrial strategy. He highly appreciated this and believed that hydrogen fuel vehicles are a path and track that should be highly valued for the development of new energy vehicles in the mainland.

Bai Yimin also showed another perspective: the development of hydrogen vehicles is also related to the scope of new infrastructure. He believes that the new infrastructure is not only 5G, AI, Internet, blockchain and other technical software and systems, but also includes materials, equipment manufacturing, core components; at the same time, the new infrastructure should also include the new construction of the industrial organization model, that is, beyond simple technical thinking, focusing on the construction of a grander industrial ecology that combines production, business and finance.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which just passed, became the stage for the wonderful appearance of hydrogen fuel vehicles, and its large-scale use was the first time in the world. In this context, the reporter and Bai Yimin had in-depth communication on the development status and prospects of hydrogen fuel vehicles, the profound changes brought about by the hydrogen energy industry, the experience of Toyota worth learning from, and the development opportunities of new energy vehicles in the mainland.

01

The Winter Olympics will signal the commercialization of hydrogen fuel vehicles

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles performed well. According to the data of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, more than 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and more than 30 hydrogen refueling stations will be operated in demonstration operation of the Winter Olympic Games. Models include hydrogen fuel cell buses, hydrogen fuel cell cars, hydrogen fuel cell special vehicles such as snow wax cars, etc.

According to media reports, as a global partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota Motor provided a total of 2025 Toyota products to the organizing committee during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. These vehicles, along with the associated infrastructure, will continue to function after the Olympic games close to new uses.

Some people believe that this Winter Olympics will become a watershed in the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

"The data represents that hydrogen fuel vehicles are already commercially available for mass production. If there are only one or two vehicles, it belongs to the prototype stage; if there is no hydrogen refueling station, only hydrogen fuel vehicles do not mean that they can be commercialized. The Beijing Winter Olympics is the beginning of a global commercialization of hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and it is a landmark event. Bai Yimin said.

In his view, the symbolic significance of the large-scale application of hydrogen fuel vehicles in the Winter Olympics is reflected in several aspects. On the one hand, hydrogen fuel vehicles solve the problem of temperature sensitivity of electric vehicles, and can complete hydrogenation, combustion, etc. in cold areas, which means that their application areas will be wider. On the other hand, it is also worth noting that because the power requirements of buses are stronger than those of cars, the application of hydrogen fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles such as buses means that hydrogen fuel vehicles can ensure sufficient power.

Hydrogen-fueled vehicles also solve the problem of range that consumers are concerned about. According to reports, toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel vehicles have been able to reach an endurance of 1360 kilometers, achieving a hydrogenation and long-distance driving.

In addition, hydrogen refueling station support is also easier to achieve, "compared with the construction or transformation of charging stations, the social cost of transforming gas stations into hydrogen refueling stations is lower." Bai Yimin believes that this is also the advantage of hydrogen fuel vehicles.

"Another important significance of the large-scale application of hydrogen fuel vehicles is to promote technical exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Japanese enterprises, which is an open and innovative cooperative relationship." Bai Yimin said.

According to public media reports, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles invested in the Beijing Winter Olympics are provided by Toyota and Foton, Yutong, Zhongtong, Geely and other enterprises; in addition, Toyota as the system developer, the relevant technology of the Joint Fuel Cell System Research and Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd., which was previously established by five Chinese car companies, was also invested in the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games. The large-scale centralized use of hydrogen fuel vehicles will also promote the rapid development of related technologies, upstream and downstream supporting facilities and infrastructure construction of the industry, and accelerate the commercialization process.

02

Hydrogen fuel represents the future direction of automotive energy

Pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, etc. are several well-known new energy vehicle technology routes. According to the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" released in 2020, by 2035, the annual sales volume of energy-saving and new energy vehicles will account for 50% each, and the automobile industry will achieve electrification transformation; the number of fuel cell vehicles will reach about 1 million, and commercial vehicles will achieve hydrogen power transformation.

Bai Yimin believes that on the three tracks of pure electricity, hybrid and hydrogen fuel, Toyota has been working deeply on the hybrid track for many years and has a strong advantage; Tesla has taken the lead in the pure electric track; on the hydrogen fuel track, Toyota has a very early layout, has technical reserves, and is expected to win back a round. He said that hydrogen vehicles represent the future direction of development and are the "ultimate solution" for technology and industry.

In this regard, Bai Yimin's explanation is: "At present, the commercially available hydrogen that we can achieve actually comes from chemical by-products or derivatives. These derivatives form cheap hydrogen. From a business point of view, on the basis of the original chemical industry, the hydrogen industry has emerged. ”

It is understood that China is the world's largest industrial by-product hydrogen country, and by-product hydrogen has a unique advantage in hydrogen supply. Due to the current high cost of electrolyzing water to hydrogen and solar energy to hydrogen, it is difficult to become the main source of hydrogen in a short period of time. Industrial by-product hydrogen will become the focus of short- and medium-term development due to its low cost and convenient transportation; at the same time, industrial by-product hydrogen has a relative advantage in carbon emissions compared with electrolyzed water and fossil energy hydrogen production at this stage.

"Industrial by-product hydrogen is actually equivalent to driving up coal chemical, petrochemical and other industries, and converting it into clean energy." In a sense, it is equivalent to driving the transformation and upgrading of the corresponding equipment manufacturing industry. Bai Yimin said.

Not only that, the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry in the mainland is also the advantage of developing the hydrogen energy industry. Bai Yimin said that for the mainland, the development of hydrogen energy industry and photovoltaic industry can promote each other, and the development of hydrogen energy and hydrogen energy vehicles is an effective solution to the problem of distributed energy storage.

In this regard, Chen Qingtai, chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, has also publicly stated that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be used as a breakthrough in the promotion and application of hydrogen energy; hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and energy storage battery vehicles are not an alternative relationship between either or, the two have their own strengths, and will be a coexistence and development trend in the long future.

03

New infrastructure construction to build a road to industrial circulation integration

As the vice president of the New Infrastructure Investment Committee of the Investment Association of China, Bai Yimin believes that the new infrastructure is not only 5G, AI, Internet, blockchain and other technical software and systems, but also includes materials, equipment manufacturing, and core components.

"The hydrogen energy industry reconstructs the new big energy system of the future society, extending from the automobile industry to the related basic industries, which is itself a new infrastructure." Bai Yimin stressed that the new infrastructure should include both software and hardware, and must be both soft and hard; at the same time, it is necessary to look more inward to see who holds the key links such as materials, equipment manufacturing, and core components, rather than just staying at the external brand level.

Bai Yimin believes that the greater challenge of new infrastructure lies in hardware, which must learn from advanced teachers such as Japanese and German enterprises, rely on the spirit of craftsmanship to develop technology, enhance the scientific and technological innovation ability of the industrial chain supply chain, and fundamentally solve the "card neck" problem of some technologies. This ultimately comes down to talent. "We urgently need to introduce old experts and technicians from enterprises, who can really lead the technological innovation in industrialization." He said.

At the same time, learning and digesting advanced technologies through joint venture cooperation is also a path. Bai Yimin pointed out that in terms of hydrogen fuel vehicle technology, Toyota has cooperated with a number of domestic companies to actively layout the Chinese market. In 2019, Toyota and Tsinghua University established the "Tsinghua University-Toyota Joint Research Institute", which includes jointly exploring the active use of hydrogen fuels, while at the same time, it began to provide hydrogen fuel cell components to commercial vehicle manufacturers in China. In April 2019, Toyota reached a strategic cooperation with Foton and Yihuatong, in July, it reached a cooperation with FAW, Suzhou Golden Dragon and Shanghai Remodeling, and in September, it signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with FAW and GAC. In 2020, Toyota Motor, together with six companies including FAW, Dongfeng, GAC Group, BAIC Group, and Yihuatong, announced the establishment of Joint Fuel Cell System R&D (Beijing) Co., Ltd. to promote the research and development, landing and popularization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China. "In this process of open innovation cooperation, Chinese enterprises should learn relatively mature experience in the development of hydrogen fuel cells." He said.

Bai Yimin also stressed that the new infrastructure should also include the new construction of the industrial organization model, that is, beyond simple technical thinking, focusing on the construction of a grander industrial ecology that combines production, business and finance. In this regard, the business model of Mitsui and Toyota can also provide reference, they actually serve as industrial organizers, opening up the entire supply chain; through a set of systems of industrial funds, investment banks and various financial institutions, equity integration, to achieve the docking of upstream and downstream industries and the clustering of industrial parks. The final trinity of industry, business and finance will be achieved.

"Our new infrastructure investment professional committee will also play the role of industrial organizers to build a road of industrial circulation and integration." Bai Yimin said.

04

The hydrogen energy track needs to be given great attention

Porter, a well-known strategist, said that strategy is a trade-off, that is, choosing not to do anything. Its essence is to focus on resource endowments when making strategic choices, grasp the core issues that can comprehensively change the overall situation, and then exert efforts.

Under the "double carbon" goal, the important role of hydrogen energy and hydrogen energy vehicles has gradually become prominent. At the same time, the state attaches more importance to hydrogen energy-related industries, and the public's understanding of the status of hydrogen energy as the main body of energy development is becoming more and more profound.

Yu Zhuoping, a professor at the School of Automotive Of Tongji University, once told the media that in order to achieve the 2060 carbon neutrality goal, hydrogen energy will play a key role in the mainland's heavy industry, medium and heavy transportation, building heating and other industries that are difficult to decarbonize. According to the data, in 2060, the annual demand for hydrogen will increase to nearly 130 million tons, accounting for 20% of the final energy consumption.

The state attaches great importance to the construction of hydrogen energy and energy storage industries. According to Li Wanli, a member of the China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee, in the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on The Complete, Accurate and Comprehensive Implementation of the New Development Concept to Do a Good Job in Carbon Neutrality", "hydrogen energy" is mentioned 4 times. In the Carbon Peak action plan by 2030, the word "hydrogen" is mentioned 11 times, and 9 times in relation to cars.

Bai Yimin believes that the development of hydrogen energy industry in the mainland has certain advantages: on the one hand, the market demand is very large; on the other hand, the mainland has a complete hydrogen energy supporting system, and "production, storage, transportation" has advantages. "If we can focus on the goal and promote it through cooperation and other means in technology, I believe that the industrialization of hydrogen energy will soon make progress." He said.

"That doesn't mean abandoning other tracks. If there are three demands in the Chinese auto market, then all three products (pure electricity, hybrid, hydrogen fuel) are needed. But Bai Yimin stressed that the focus must be on hydrogen energy, because this industry is the most difficult and the largest, but when an industrial system is established, in a sense, a moat is established, and others cannot easily follow.

"The hydrogen energy track needs to be highly valued and three-dimensional layout." Bai Yimin said.