Introduction: The prospect of hydrogen energy in China has never been so bright.
Realize the dream of the Winter Olympics, together to the future.
The successful holding of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is not only of great significance to the world's ice and snow sports, but also a milestone on the road to realizing the dream of the global energy transition - hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China, can also be said to be the first time in the world to achieve large-scale, long-term commercial operation, people finally found that the original hydrogen energy society has been so close to us.
As the first automotive company to establish a global partnership in the field of mobility with the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, Toyota provided more than 240 fuel cell vehicles (FCEV) during the conference, with a cumulative driving range of nearly 400,000 kilometers, equivalent to running a full 10 laps around the earth's equator, making "green Olympic Games, science and technology Olympic Games" a reality.
It is interesting to note that at the time when the large-scale commercial operation of hydrogen energy has brought positive effects, the development of China's hydrogen energy industry has also ushered in a huge favorable policy level, which can be described as "double happiness at the door".
In March 2022, in view of the major breakthroughs in the development and utilization technology of hydrogen energy represented by fuel cells, China officially released the "Medium and Long-term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which for the first time raised the development of hydrogen energy to the height of national strategic emerging industries and future development priorities, released the country's positive attitude towards hydrogen energy development, and clarified the rapid development prospects of hydrogen energy in China and even the world.
Hydrogen energy has long been considered the "ultimate energy" of the 21st century, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have also been called the "ultimate solution" for new energy vehicles.
According to automotive K-line statistics, nearly 30 provinces and cities in the mainland have introduced hydrogen energy industry development policies last year, and in the second half of last year, the three major hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market clusters (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Yangtze River Delta) have been launched. The SaSAC disclosed that more than one-third of the central enterprises have also laid out the hydrogen energy industry chain.
To some extent, China has officially opened a "new era of hydrogen energy". The demonstration effect of the commercial operation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the Winter Olympics, together with the newly released "Planning", makes 2022 a veritable "first year" for China's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry. For a time, the capital market was moving, and securities institutions also began to invest in the hydrogen energy industry chain.
So, what kind of technical strength does Toyota Motor, which has advanced in the field of hydrogen energy transportation, have? What strategic plans are in place? What can we do for China's hydrogen energy society in the future?
1) Test and standard
There is an old Chinese saying that there is no diamond diamond, no porcelain work. The meaning itself is to refer to an ancient folk craft, "curium porcelain", that is, the repair of porcelain requires tools and profound skills; now it is understood to weigh yourself before doing things, and if you have limited ability, don't do what you can't do. Similarly, if you want to lead the development of the industry in the field of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, on the one hand, you must have a very strong technical strength and cultivate the field for many years; on the other hand, you also need time, location, people, that is, an opportunity to show the technical strength.
During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota Motor's tests in Zhangjiakou, Yanqing and Beijing urban areas, in addition to the durability test of the 400,000 kilometers of mileage mentioned above, also faced a low temperature of nearly -30 °C for more than a month, a maximum altitude of 2198 meters, and a slope of 16 ° with snow and ice roads... These harsh environmental conditions are causing trouble for more than 240 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV) all the time.
Although this is the first large-scale adoption of new energy vehicles such as FCEVs at the Winter Olympics, according to the data provided by the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, the reliability rate of service vehicles in this year's Games is about six percentage points higher than that of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics four years ago. In particular, IOC President Bach has given a high degree of recognition to the second generation of MIRAI and Costa hydrogen engines.
In China, the world's largest new energy vehicle market, it can be said that after passing the test of the Winter Olympics, Toyota Motor has indirectly won a victory, becoming the industry benchmark for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, laying the industry position, and also enhancing confidence and kinetic energy for the development of the hydrogen energy industry. At least for now, no other car company can provide such a large-scale FCEV travel service operation guarantee in such a world-class event. Throughout the Winter Olympics, Toyota's FCEVs reduced CO2 emissions by more than 110,000 tons.
More importantly, relying on successful commercial operations, in the early introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Toyota Motor needs to communicate technical standards with multiple departments, which can be said to have disguised participation and support for the formulation of China's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry standards.
2) Glory and dreams
The reason why it was able to shine at the Winter Olympics is that in the author's opinion, it is the result of Toyota's deepening development in the field of all-round electrification over the years. Looking at the global automotive industry, there are very few automotive companies that can cover gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), pure electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV).
Over the past 30 years, Toyota motor has sold 20 million electrified models worldwide and achieved full electrification. Especially in the field of hydrogen fuel cell technology, Toyota began research and development as early as 1992.
In other words, Toyota Motor has long been handy in the research and development of "three electric" (motors, electronic controls and batteries) and has a very strong strength. The transformation of this kind of enterprise to a new energy vehicle and mobile travel service provider is also fundamentally different from the passive transformation of other enterprises. Even from the perspective of industrial safety and employment, Akio Toyoda occasionally criticizes the radical electrification transformation. Therefore, Toyota's pursuit has never been a single pure electrification, but a full range of electrification, including oil-electric hybrid vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), pure electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV).
Through continuous technological innovation, in terms of power density, hydrogen cylinder quality, cell durability, mass production quality and other aspects of great improvement, in 2014 the world's first mass production hydrogen fuel cell model Mirai came out, has been sold more than 10,000 vehicles in the world.
The second generation of MIRAI, which is in service at the Winter Olympics, will be launched at the end of 2020, and the hydrogen storage tanks will be expanded from 2 to 3, thereby increasing the hydrogen capacity from 4.6 kg to 5.6 kg, and the maximum cruising range of the WLTC is about 850 km, which is about 30% higher than the previous generation model. According to statistics, the two generations of MIRAI have accumulated nearly 18,000 units worldwide by the end of last year.
Overseas, hydrogen energy has been widely supported by governments, with global sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles reaching 16,300 in 2021, with nearly 50,000 units. In South Korea, the United States, and Japan, fuel cell vehicle sales are in the forefront. In particular, under the aggressive subsidy policy in South Korea, nearly 8,500 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were sold last year.
However, the problem is that the above countries are mainly hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles, but in China's planning for the expected number of fuel cell vehicles in 2025 of about 50,000 vehicles, it is to "focus on promoting the application of hydrogen fuel cells in medium and heavy vehicles, and orderly expand the application space of new energy passengers and goods such as hydrogen fuel cells". At present, the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China is less than 10,000, and there is huge room for development.
In the view of the automotive K line, although the current hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are mainly passenger cars, in the future, commercial vehicles are expected to become mainstream and will also contribute more increments.
3) Cooperation and win-win
In fact, in addition to the passenger car field, Toyota has long begun to develop hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, and cooperates with local companies to promote the development of China's hydrogen energy industry.
Coincidentally, for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota also specially designed and developed the Costa hydrogen engine. The model was developed by Toyota Motor R&D Center (China) Co., Ltd. and produced by Sichuan FAW Toyota. This is also the first time that Toyota motor has realized the "localization" of the whole process of hydrogen fuel cell technology from research and development to production overseas, and as many as 107 Costa hydrogen engine vehicles (including 2 welfare vehicles) are used as athlete shuttles in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing.
The Costa Hydrogen Engine, which uses the rear door to open the automatic lifting and disembarking method, allows Paralympic athletes to quickly get on and off the bus in a wheelchair, which truly reflects Toyota's humanistic care for specific groups of people. Auto K Line believes that this will also bring greater confidence to companies cooperating with Toyota.
At present, Toyota has deep cooperation with a number of companies in China, and even established joint ventures to become more open and promote the commercialization and popularization of hydrogen fuel cell technology in China. This may be related to the conservative lessons learned from Toyota's previous cooperation in the hybrid field, so Toyota disclosed the technology patent of FCEV to the outside world earlier.
According to relevant information, since 2019, Toyota and Remodeling Technology in Shanghai have cooperated to start equipping commercial vehicles with remodeling technology hydrogen fuel cell systems using Toyota hydrogen fuel stacks and other components.
In August 2020, Toyota took an important step in the cooperation and development of hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles by establishing the "United Fuel Cell System Research and Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (FCRD)" with domestic leading commercial vehicle giants FAW, Dongfeng, GAC, BAIC, and yihuatong, the first share of hydrogen fuel cells, while several major automobile groups in the joint venture have absolute voice and market share in the field of domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicles.
Just about eight months later, Toyota and Ewacom each invested 4 billion yen to establish Huafeng Fuel Cell Co., Ltd. (FCTS), a joint venture to promote the fuel cell system business of commercial vehicles. The new company, FCTS, will manufacture and sell fuel cell systems developed by FCTRD.
It is noteworthy that the new company's first product, based on the Toyota hydrogen fuel cell vehicle MIRAI fuel cell system, increased the output power at FCRD for commercial vehicles and has been put into the Chinese market in 2021. In 2023, the company will officially put into operation fuel cell systems and stacks in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
In November last year, Toyota signed a contract with Remodeling Technology to jointly develop fuel cell systems for vehicles, which is expected to further deepen cooperation. It is not difficult to find that in just over three years, Toyota has made a forward-looking strategic layout in the field of hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles through deepening cooperation and joint ventures. Even in the future, the whole life cycle of hydrogen fuel cell use, Toyota is also considering, especially in the recycling and exhaust gas treatment links.
It is said that everything is ready, only owe the east wind, the opportunity is left to those who are prepared, now that the east wind has come, industrial policy, the Winter Olympics, all places will be hydrogen energy industry, as a key development direction.
Recently, the subsidy policy for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in many places has been released, taking Beijing as an example, the maximum subsidy is as high as more than 1.8 million yuan, which is rare. In the hydrogen production, transportation and storage, hydrogenation links, such as PetroChina Sinopec, are also betting on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Among them, Sinopec plans to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. Among the listed companies concerned by the automotive K line, there are also many companies planning to get involved in the development of hydrogen energy, a strategic emerging industry.
As a model for China to encourage the development of international joint research and development of hydrogen energy science and technology, and promote the innovation and cooperation of core technologies, materials and equipment in the whole hydrogen energy industry chain, Automotive K Line believes that Toyota Motor will also make important contributions to accelerating the clean and low-carbon transformation of energy in the mainland and technological progress.