Although the development of pure electric vehicles has long been the consensus of the whole world, it is unrealistic and unscientific to fully replace fuel vehicles with pure electric vehicles in a short period of time. However, carbon neutrality is like the sword of Damos hanging over the heads of various car companies, pushing car companies to desperately find ways to reduce carbon emissions, including the development of hydrogen energy, and the development of methanol vehicles.
At present, Geely Automobile is the fastest car company to promote methanol vehicles in China. Recently, Geely Automobile exposed the power configuration information of its first alcohol-electric hybrid sedan. This is a alcohol-electric hybrid sedan based on the 4th generation Emgrand, equipped with the industry's most advanced alcohol-electric hybrid technology, pollutant emissions less than 5% of gasoline vehicles, carbon emissions less than 3% of gasoline vehicles, 100 km alcohol consumption as low as 9.2L (equivalent to 3L fuel consumption of 100 km of oil vehicles).
With the closest on the market to mass production of the alcohol-electric hybrid sedan on the market, Geely seems to be once again ahead of other independent brands. Now that pure electric vehicles are in full swing, why should Geely develop methanol vehicles that were not valued before?
Methanol cars are becoming a new outlet?
In fact, while mainland china strongly supports pure electric vehicles, it also attaches great importance to hybrid power, and the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" released by the mainland has clearly put forward the goal of 50% of the market share of hybrid models with internal combustion engines and electric motors by 2035.
Nowadays, with the intensification of carbon neutrality, global carbon reduction action is imperative, and the transformation of the automobile industry to new energy has become the industry consensus. According to the research and calculation of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Association, if the carbon peak of road traffic is to be achieved in 2030, this means that the electrification penetration rate of cars in China is not less than 30%, and the total number of vehicles is more than 80 million.
Although the mainland's new energy vehicles developed rapidly last year, and the penetration rate once exceeded 20%, compared with the mainland's car ownership of more than 300 million vehicles, the carbon reduction effect is relatively limited, so in addition to the pure electric technology route, the automobile industry needs hydrogen fuel, methanol and other diversified power technology routes.
Zero-emission hydrogen energy is considered the best, but after years of development, the shortcomings of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are also obvious. It is understood that the most critical part of the marketization of hydrogen energy, that is, the efficient and inexpensive production of hydrogen, however, the efficient and inexpensive oxygen precipitation catalyst necessary for the preparation of hydrogen electrolyzed water is one of the biggest challenges facing the present.
Jia Xinguang, executive director of the China Automobile Dealers Association, stressed in an interview with the media that "at present, whether it is electrolysis or photolysis hydrogen production, there are problems of low energy conversion efficiency and high cost, and the energy consumed by it is far greater than the energy released by hydrogen and oxidation obtained by electrolysis", which shows that the biggest reason for the poor development of hydrogen energy is still the cost.
Methanol cars are different. As a raw material for the organic industry, methanol is also a high-quality fuel, which has the advantages of higher combustion efficiency and more environmental protection than traditional gasoline and diesel, combining high performance and low emissions. Earlier, Wei Anli, secretary general of the Expert Steering Committee for the Promotion and Application of Methanol Vehicles of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, "Methanol is a world-recognized clean fuel, renewable energy and green energy." It is a 'carbon neutral' energy source in the true sense of the word. ”
In addition, with the sharp rise in lithium battery raw materials, energy security has once again been mentioned by everyone. Previously, the relevant person in charge of a lithium carbonate raw material production enterprise located in Yichun, Jiangxi Province, revealed that the price of lithium carbonate has risen all the way from 2020. At that time, the price of lithium carbonate was basically maintained at about 50,000 yuan / ton, but after more than a year, it has now risen to 500,000 yuan / ton, which is equivalent to ten times a year, and the price has an upward trend.
With the rising price of lithium batteries, various power battery companies have begun a robbery war for lithium mines. However, like oil, the raw materials of lithium batteries on the mainland are also in a state of high external dependence. And with the fierce competition, Chinese companies have also encountered some difficulties in competing for lithium mines.
In January, BYD Chile successfully bid for a contract for the mining of lithium mines in Chile with a quota of 80,000 tons for $61 million. However, due to regime changes in the Chilean government, the 34th Chilean President, Boric, opposed the privatization of mining and advocated the establishment of a state-owned lithium company. Now that BYD's project has been halted, the chances of BYD winning the contract are slim from Boric's governing platform.
Energy security has once again become a new issue that power battery companies have to face, in this context, in addition to a large number of research and development of cobalt-free batteries and improve the utilization rate of batteries through power exchange mode, the development of other sustainable use of clean energy has become a new breakthrough, and methanol is just very suitable for the development of the mainland.
As we all know, the mainland is a big coal producer, and methanol, as a product of the coal processing process, has the characteristics of large output and low price. Now, with energy security once again being raised, the cost of lithium batteries has risen sharply, and methanol vehicles, which have been neglected for a long time in the past, are becoming a new outlet.
Geely takes the lead?
There is no doubt that with the country paying more and more attention to methanol vehicles, Geely Automobile, as the boss of its own brand, will certainly not miss this outlet, which is also an important reason for Geely to launch methanol vehicles at this point in time.
The reason why Geely was able to seize the outlet of methanol vehicles for the first time is not unrelated to how far Geely has insisted on development over the years. Although electric vehicles are the future trend today, Geely Automobile has long been laid out in methanol vehicles with a forward-looking vision.
As early as 2005, Geely Automobile began to get involved in the field of methanol vehicles, and quickly became the first enterprise in China to obtain the national methanol automobile production qualification. In 2009, Li Shufu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, submitted a proposal entitled "Proposal on Introducing National Standards for Methanol Vehicles as Soon as Possible", calling on the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Standardization Administration to complete the formulation of national standards for methanol vehicles as soon as possible.
Li Shufu's appeal was quickly heeded, and in September 2012, Geely's special announcement on methanol vehicle pilots was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, followed by geely's methanol taxi pilots in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Gansu and Guizhou. With the deepening of development, Geely Automobile invested in Carbon Recycling International (hereinafter referred to as "CRI") in Iceland for US$45.5 million (about 280 million yuan) in 2015.
The company operates the world's first renewable, clean methanol plant. Under the agreement, the two parties will collaborate on the development of 100% methanol-fueled vehicles and promote their applications in China, Iceland and other parts of the world.
Now 17 years later, through years of development, Geely Automobile currently has 200 core technology patents in the field of methanol, and now Xi'an, Jinzhong, Guiyang and other places are running 27,000 vehicles on a large scale, with a total operating mileage of 28 billion kilometers. It is no exaggeration to say that Geely Automobile's technical advantage in methanol can be described as unique in the world.
This time, the alcohol-electric hybrid car based on Emgrand's research and development is the culmination of Geely's methanol technology for many years. As the time for the official launch of this Emexperianol electric hybrid sedan on the market is approaching, Geely Automobile has once again taken the lead in this new outlet of methanol vehicles. As for the final pricing of this car, I think this alcohol-electric hybrid sedan with the name of "Emgrand" of the national god car should not exceed everyone's expectations.
Summary: For Geely's official launch of methanol vehicles, the outside world is not surprised. Unlike BYD's desperate efforts to develop pure electric vehicles, Geely, as the boss of domestic independent brands in the past few years, has always adopted the method of pure electricity and clean fuel in parallel in the new energy strategy. Such a strategy will be relatively slow in the development speed, but once it encounters the policy east wind, Geely Automobile, which has a certain amount of technology accumulation, will undoubtedly have a certain first-mover advantage.
Today, in the context of the country's vigorous development of clean energy, methanol vehicles that were not valued in the past have come to the front, and Geely Automobile has seized the opportunity this time. So will other car companies keep up with Geely Automobile?