In 2020, China began to promote carbon balance reform, and since then, new energy has become a pillar industry of China's automobile industry.
Entering 2021, electric vehicles can be seen everywhere, marking that the boom of pure electric vehicles is sweeping the country. Under this trend, China is also a lively scene: on the one hand, with the continuous introduction and implementation of the national support policy for the new energy automobile industry, many domestic car companies have accelerated the pace of layout; on the other hand, the traditional fuel vehicle market has also ushered in a warming period. On the other hand, Japan, one of the world's largest automakers, has shifted to silent mode, with Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all saying they would not comment.
They argue that electric vehicles will not solve the energy problem and will cause more pollution, but this claim is far from credible in Japan, which dumps more than 1 million tons of nuclear wastewater into the sea.
But it is undeniable that the exhaust of traditional fuel vehicles is harmful to the atmospheric environment. With the continuous development of social economy, people's living standards have also improved significantly, and awareness of environmental protection has gradually increased, so the state has introduced a series of policies to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction goals. And this requires the vigorous development of new energy vehicles. In alleviating pollution problems, the emergence of new energy vehicles is a major trend in the world, but in the field of new energy vehicles, China and Japan seem to be taking two different paths.
One on the left and one on the right
With electricity and hydrogen as a direct choice, who can bet on Japan's "national fortune dispute" between China and Japan?
As an established manufacturing powerhouse, Japan's "craftsmanship" is known all over the world, from Mitsubishi and Toyota to Sony and Honda, which once occupied half of the country. However, with the change of the times and the progress of science and technology, Japan's "craftsman spirit" is gradually declining, and even has the tendency to be replaced by other countries. This is a pity. This includes the automobile manufacturing industry, but we can look back at the history of the rise and fall of the Japanese manufacturing industry, it is not difficult to find that the development of the Japanese manufacturing industry has its own shortcomings, therefore, we must learn from other countries in Europe and the United States to achieve industrial transformation and development.
What is the concept of 370,000 square kilometers?
In fact, the large area of the mainland Yunnan Province is not only because the whole of Japan is in the seismic zone, fish resources, hydropower resources, oil, coal and other energy storage is seriously insufficient, so Japan does not want to use energy for development, but in order to ensure national energy security, "involuntarily" to find alternative energy, escort Japan's stable development.
At first, Japan's first reaction was to use nuclear energy as an alternative energy source, but the Fukushima accident changed Japan's nuclear environment, where is the safe, efficient and clean energy?
At this point, Japan focuses on hydrogen energy, which has a much higher calorific value than gasoline, diesel and natural gas, while hydrogen and oxygen can burn to produce water, which is very suitable for Japan's low pollution requirements.
In addition, it should be noted that the quality of hydrogen is very light, can greatly shorten the charging time, hydrogen energy vehicles can run about 700 kilometers in about 3 minutes, hydrogen energy vehicles seem to be less than the battery pack of electric vehicles, do not worry about the problem of battery attenuation.
Having said all that, doesn't everyone in the small world believe that hydrogen energy vehicles are indeed perfect, and that Japan's choice is nothing more than a broad way out with many restrictions, but having said that, let's look at reality.
Hydrogen energy has many advantages, but its disadvantage is too advanced, but the current fuel cell technology is not mature, whether it is in hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, or hydrogenation is not easy.
When it comes to hydrogen production, this technology is more than just electrolyzing water.
At present, Japan mainly uses fossil energy to produce hydrogen, industrial by-product hydrogen production, the former mainly relies on fossil energy, mainly coal and natural gas to degreas, the latter also uses chlor-alkali plant salt water, physical adsorption to produce hydrogen, coupled with the complexity of the manufacturing industry, the requirements for materials are relatively high, the cost is still high.
The speed of the hydrogen refueling station is not ideal, and one of the problems faced by consumers is that their cars have no place to refuel, and every day when they step on the accelerator, they start to think that the hydrogen refueling station may bring too much trouble.
The popularity of hydrogen vehicles still has a long way to go, so why hasn't Japan developed electric vehicles?
In fact, the coal resources we just talked about, thermal power generation is too luxurious for them, but also by the constraints of the terrain, the lack of large rivers, so hydropower is difficult to ensure daily power demand.
In the case of such huge benefits brought by the development of hydrogen energy, why did China choose electric vehicles?
First, let's talk about the importance of new energy vehicles to China.
Actually, three words
Can't afford to lose
A country's net crude oil imports as a percentage of its oil consumption reflect its dependence on foreign oil and oil, exceeding the internationally recognized energy security red line by 50%, and is a serious threat to energy security.
But as the world's largest oil importer, how much is China's dependence on foreign countries for more than 70% of its oil?
In short, crude oil shipments need to pass through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Malacca, and once India and the United States block the way and prevent ships from entering, all of China's oil-hungry industries will come to a standstill.
So why doesn't China use hydrogen fuel?
That's not to say they don't want to, because Japan currently owns 70% of the world's hydrogen fuel vehicle patents, and if China follows in Japan's footsteps, it will certainly be led by Japanese companies.
Platinum, the key catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells, is mainly made in South Africa, which puts it a long way from being controlled by other countries, so the development of electric vehicles may be seen as a last resort.
We do not deny that hydrogen energy vehicles are conducive to long-term development, but due to technical and other constraints, at this time, It is unwise for China to commit to the development of hydrogen energy vehicles, not only is it impossible to successfully develop hydrogen energy vehicles, but also may lose the market for electric vehicles.
So, did China lose in the first place?
Otherwise, China has a huge advantage in the development of electric vehicles that Japan does not have – abundant resources.
If we're going to make electric cars, we need batteries, and coincidentally, China is the third largest country in the world in terms of lithium resource reserves, capable of meeting most of the current demand for electric vehicles. However, in new energy vehicles, power batteries are a very critical component, and lithium-ion batteries are currently the most mature and widely used battery type. At the same time, electric vehicles need rare earth materials, but China's largest reserve of rare earths accounts for more than 90% of the global market.
Therefore, in the case that all resources can be self-sufficient, electric vehicles are not "spare tires" that catch up with the new energy vehicle market. In the future, if we can make full use of the abundant wind energy, solar energy and other clean and environmentally friendly energy sources in the mainland, then we may become the world's largest consumer market for electric vehicles. Of course, there is still a long way to go to achieve this goal. What's more, electric vehicles are more advanced than hydrogen energy vehicles, after all, since the second industrial revolution, how to use electricity has been the focus of attention, which is the most important reason why China chose electric vehicles.
So, how to promote the rapid development of electric vehicles?
China's first reaction is subsidies, from the date when the direction of new energy is determined, China's subsidies for the entire new energy industry exceed 300 billion yuan, but the subsidies are not only not cashed, but have attracted a large number of fly enterprises selling meat with new energy and new energy.
In this case, China can only clean up the fly enterprises by introducing Tesla, and use Tesla to reshape the entire industrial chain, but it cannot be added, and new energy cannot be industrial chain.
China has made big concessions in bringing in Tesla.
In the past, all foreign car companies in China were required to hold 50% of the shares in Sino-foreign joint ventures, but this time China changed the rules to allow Tesla to build its own factory in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, only to pay a 25% tariff.
In fact, it is like Apple's factory hatching a new industrial chain, and a large number of domestic mobile phone brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, etc. that can compete with international giants have risen.
Similarly, if Tesla China succeeds in replacing fuel vehicles, China will build a network of charging stations and spawn new electric vehicle companies with lower difficulty.
In the field of hydrogen energy vehicles alone, the mainland is still far behind Japan, but this does not mean that Japan can maintain its lead. Globally, the popularity of hydrogen energy vehicles is the highest. At present, more than 100 countries and regions in the world have carried out research on fuel cell vehicles, of which more than 60 countries have achieved mass production applications. From the current situation, hydrogen fuel vehicles are still in their infancy, and the product ownership is low.
Taking Toyota as an example, as of January 2021, its global sales are only 12467 MIRAI, with the rapid development of electric vehicles in China, large car companies flocking to, and the help of many giants, the development of Hydrogen Energy in China can be described as indispensable.
With the continuous advancement of hydrogen, transportation and storage technology, the construction and promotion of infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations, let us not rush to conclusions, who will be the last laughing point!