Not long ago, at the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, "once again" put forward" a proposal to promote the application of methanol vehicles.
The "again" here is the plural, and Li Shufu has spared no effort to promote methanol vehicles for more than ten years.
Don't say that it is really useful, "methanol car", it really feels like it is brought to fire by Li Shufu.
Geely is passionate about methanol
The history of Li Shufu's promotion is naturally accompanied by the history of Geely's research and development.
As early as 2005, Geely began research on methanol vehicles, in 2013, Geely methanol vehicles in Jinzhong launched trial operation, in 2015 invested in Iceland Carbon Cycle International Company, in the same year, Geely methanol vehicle project officially settled in Guiyang, began to build methanol vehicle manufacturing base.
That is to say, Geely is keen on methanol, let alone 17 years (2022).
Specific to the product, in fact, methanol sedan was launched in 2005, and it has now iterated four power versions.
The commercial versions of pilot projects around the world are mostly commercial heavy trucks, light trucks, and buses, so our ordinary consumers have less contact and have not been able to mix familiarity.
Our focus is still on the Emexpression version, in fact, from the appearance point of view, there is no obvious difference from other versions.
However, there is a big difference in the power level, the Emgrandol electro-hybrid version will be equipped with a 1.8L alcohol-electric hybrid engine, the transmission is matched with a three-speed hybrid electric drive DHT PRO transmission, the maximum power of 132 horsepower, thermal efficiency of 41.5%, 100 kilometers of methanol consumption of 9.2L, equivalent to driving a hundred kilometers to consume less than 3L of gasoline.
Dian Ge recently got the information that this new car will meet with us in the second quarter of this year as soon as possible.
Compared with pure electricity and hydrogen energy, methanol has many benefits
Every time Li Shufu promotes methanol vehicles, he will emphasize the advantages of methanol.
For example, this year's two sessions once again emphasized: "Methanol, as a low-carbon, oxygenated fuel, has the characteristics of efficient combustion, clean emissions, renewable green attributes, etc., and is liquid at room temperature and pressure, and storage, transportation and use are safer and more convenient than other new energy and clean energy." At the same time, methanol production sources are extensive, the economy is huge, and the whole industry chain is sustainable. ”
Indeed, this sentence roughly summarizes the advantages of methanol as a new energy fuel, and we will further talk about it.
First of all, China's methanol production is very impressive, and it has exceeded 100 million tons in 2021.
High production means high self-sufficiency, and self-sufficiency means pricing power and safety. The direct reason for China's high methanol production is that the main source of methanol production is coal, and the mainland is a country with less oil and more coal.
The methanol gasoline gas station that is usually seen on the side of the road is mixed with methanol and gasoline in a certain proportion to produce methanol gasoline of different labels.
Whether it is methanol fuel internal combustion engine or methanol gasoline, it is to achieve the ultimate goal of fuel saving.
In general, the manufacturing cost of methanol is relatively low, and the source is quite extensive, and the self-sufficiency rate of the mainland is also very high.
The comparison with other new energy sources cannot be ignored.
First, let's take a look at wind energy, the photovoltaic industry is also the pillar industry of the mainland curve overtaking, and the increase is very huge.
However, at present, the mainland wind power generation is only equivalent to 192 million tons of standard coal power generation, and the proportion of coal power generation in China is only 12.5%. Although the cost of wind power generation is very low, the power generation time and power generation cannot be used as the main energy supply for a long time.
Even if electricity is sent, there is a problem of storage and transportation.
This year, the soaring price of raw materials for power batteries has completely changed the recent delivery and production system of new energy vehicles, and price increases are commonplace.
Lithium, cobalt and nickel are basically imported, and the current situation of pure electric power being constrained by instability is becoming more and more prominent.
Naturally, we also think of hydrogen energy that has been developed for many years.
Even if the production link is abandoned, the cost of hydrogen energy transportation and storage is extremely high, and the energy density of the 70MPa hydrogen storage tank is still not ideal.
Hydrogen storage tanks and transport lines also require special materials to prevent hydrogen erosion and penetration.
The construction cost and management standards of the hydrogen refueling station are relatively the highest in various energy situations, and the hydrogen itself is the gas with the widest explosion limit, and the safety hazard is larger, so higher technical standards and inputs are needed to meet the requirements of use.
Methanol is equally clean after combustion, and is liquid at room temperature and pressure, which solves the ultimate problem of transportation and storage.
The energy replenishment system and construction cost itself belong to the category of liquid fuel, which is comparable to that of gas stations, and the efficiency is higher than that of pure electricity and hydrogen energy, and the cost is lower.
To sum up, in addition to manufacturing, storage and transportation, when we use it ourselves, methanol does not produce carbon deposits, and the cleanliness of the cylinder is very high; at the same time, the methanol octane number is high, so it can support a higher compression ratio, high thermal efficiency and reduce knocking.
Overall, the advantages are many.
A stumbling block on the road to counterattack
The advantages are obvious, but the disadvantages are equally prominent.
Methanol has a certain degree of toxicity and corrosiveness while having volatility, which is a great disadvantage compared to gasoline.
With methanol, it is difficult to start in winter, and in cold areas it is necessary to install a preheater or add a certain number of gasoline.
Based on existing experience, the use of methanol is very prone to P0171 failure.
The cause of the failure can not be simple and clear, the main causes include air leakage after the air flow (MAF) sensor, PCV system leakage, oxygen sensor failure, exhaust leakage near the oxygen sensor, EGR leakage, air flow (MAF) sensor failure, fuel filter is too dirty, insufficient fuel pump supply, etc.
The preliminary judgment is that the use of methanol is easy to cause the system to be too thin.
The air-fuel ratio is too thin because the fuel delivery is too small, and the adaptive fuel control system has reached the compensation limit, and the air-fuel ratio is still very thin, which is easy to report this failure.
In view of this, it is probably due to the impact of corrosiveness on the fuel supply system, which may increase the frequency and cost of vehicle maintenance.
What's more, the calorific value of methanol is much lower than that of gasoline and diesel, and if you want to release the same energy, the consumption of methanol is much higher.
We are generally accustomed to 40 ~ 50L gasoline fuel tank volume, can support more than 500km driving range, if it is methanol gasoline will be significantly reduced.
2 liters of methanol is equivalent to 1 liter of isooctane, and if methanol is used directly, the mileage means that at least a discount is required.
Every 200 kilometers to run a gas station, think about the endurance anxiety.
Another outlet after pure electricity and hydrogen fuel?
After reading the previous analysis, there is already a spectrum for methanol cars.
At present, human beings have not yet found a liquid fuel that can reach or even close to the energy efficiency of gasoline, compared to pure electric, hydrogen energy and methanol have outstanding advantages, but their disadvantages can not be ignored, still facing a long research and development cycle.
The current status quo of the industry is still mostly a small-scale pilot, and due to the limitation of energy replenishment and low calorific value, it is likely to be applied in the commercial field first.
However, the flaws are not hidden, after all, methanol is cheap, the properties are not much different from gasoline, and when it is necessary to popularize the energy replenishment network, it is naturally much more economical and efficient than pure electricity and hydrogen energy.
It doesn't take a few years for methanol fuel cell models to go up one or even several steps.
After all, if anyone had told me a few years ago that pure electric vehicles will generally go up to 400km steps, I would not believe it...