Cold chain logistics vehicles into the "hydrogen rail"!

Article source 丨Hydro Wisdom Association

Article author | Han Yu

For a long time, hydrogen fuel applications have mainly been in buses and heavy trucks, and now, refrigerated vehicles have also begun to "hydrogenate".

In addition to carbon reduction, new energy refrigerated logistics vehicles, especially hydrogen fuel refrigerated vehicles, can also abandon the defects of fuel refrigerated trucks.

Liu Xingye, vice president of the Beijing Agricultural Products Circulation Association, said in an interview that "cold chain transportation, especially agricultural product transportation, must use new energy vehicles. This is because refrigerated trucks belong to a sealed space, and when diesel and gasoline fuels are used, it is inevitable that there will be infiltration, and once the taste is contaminated by agricultural products, it will not evaporate for a long time. ”

Zero carbon long endurance, hydrogen fuel for refrigerated transportation to improve quality and efficiency

Whether in terms of policy or in terms of vehicle subsidies, in recent years, the state has taken pains to promote the development of hydrogen fuel vehicles.

According to incomplete statistics, in 2021 alone, the national and local governments issued more than 30 policies involving the development of hydrogen energy industry, involving the operation of hydrogen fuel vehicles and the construction of hydrogen refueling stations.

After Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, the two major urban agglomerations of Henan and Hebei have also been approved to carry out demonstration applications of fuel cell vehicles. The five fuel cell vehicle demonstration application city clusters cover a total of 47 cities, and the scale of future hydrogen fuel vehicle demonstration operations is self-evident.

Specifically, the four urban agglomerations of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Hebei have announced their respective targets for promoting the number of fuel cell vehicles during the demonstration period, 5300, 5000, 10000 and 7710 respectively. It can be seen that the five urban agglomerations will achieve the application and promotion of more than 30,000 fuel cell vehicles in 2025.

In terms of promoting vehicles, in addition to hydrogen fuel cell buses and heavy trucks, hydrogen fuel logistics vehicles are also popular models. The continuous expansion of the scale of refrigerated vehicles also has many benefits in terms of hydrogen fuel.

Why is the cold chain logistics industry optimistic about hydrogen fuel refrigerated trucks?

First of all, the number of refrigerated logistics vehicle fleet is large, the frequency of use is high, the travel mileage is longer, compared with pure electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have zero carbon emissions, small noise pollution, long mileage, good low temperature characteristics and short fuel filling time, etc., in line with the characteristics of long transportation distance and high load requirements of refrigerated logistics vehicles, and can also achieve green and low-carbon environmental protection.

Secondly, the energy conversion rate of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is as high as 60% to 80%, which is 2 to 3 times that of the internal combustion engine, and the power is sufficient. The combination of hydrogen fuel cells and the large power demand of refrigerated vehicles gives the vehicle the advantages of long endurance, excellent reliability, high thermal efficiency, safety and high economy.

Taking the Zhilan hydrogen fuel refrigerated truck as an example, the vehicle is equipped with two groups of 260L hydrogen cylinders, combined with an 80.5kW high-power fuel cell engine, hydrogenation takes less than 5 minutes, and the cruising range reaches more than 400 kilometers, which can meet the needs of cold chain logistics for efficient operation.

At the same time, the vehicle can also be started at a low temperature of minus 30 degrees Celsius and stored at a low temperature of minus 40 degrees, which greatly meets the temperature control needs of the whole chain of cold chain logistics.

Third, the hydrogen-fueled refrigerated vehicle is driven by an electric motor, which does not require frequent gear changes during driving, and has a passenger car-like driving experience. Drivers engaged in cold chain urban distribution transportation have high labor intensity and fatigue, and hydrogen fuel vehicles can effectively reduce the labor intensity of drivers and provide guarantees for safe operation.

Finally, more importantly, the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can enjoy purchase and operation subsidies, and cold chain logistics is conducive to reducing costs and increasing efficiency while saving energy and environmental protection.

The cold chain is on the air outlet, and the new energy vehicle runs into the new track

Cold chain logistics is an important means to connect production and consumption and serve the people's livelihood of the society, and plays an important role in regulating the supply and demand of agricultural products across seasons, stabilizing market supply, stabilizing price fluctuations, and reducing circulation losses.

Especially during the COVID-19 epidemic, cold chain logistics has also provided security for the transportation, storage and distribution of pharmaceutical products such as vaccines.

With the continuous development of the economy, the market demand for agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables, meat, aquatic products and pharmaceutical products such as vaccines has been expanding, and the demand for cold chain logistics in the mainland has gradually increased. Since 2017, the country's attention to cold chain logistics has increased significantly, and a series of measures have also been introduced to support the development of cold chain logistics.

On December 12, 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Cold Chain Logistics Development Plan. The "Planning" pointed out that by 2025, a cold chain logistics network connecting the places of production and sales, covering urban and rural areas, and connecting domestic and international areas will be initially formed, and a cold chain logistics system that meets the characteristics of the mainland's national conditions and industrial structure and meets the needs of economic and social development will be basically built. It is necessary to strengthen the integrated operation of cold chain transportation, which is also an important part of realizing the "continuous chain" of the whole process of "cold chain logistics".

This is the first five-year plan in the field of cold chain logistics in the mainland, which is of great milestone significance.

The "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2022" (that is, the Central Document No. 1) issued on February 22, 2022 pointed out that it is necessary to promote the extension of the cold chain logistics service network to the countryside, promote the construction of cold chain logistics facilities for the storage and preservation of agricultural products in the whole county, and promote cooperative joint ventures and network support.

The promotion of policies, coupled with the demand of the market, the "heat" of refrigerated trucks has risen year by year. The data shows that the market size of China's cold chain logistics industry will exceed 411.7 billion yuan in 2021, an annual increase of about 17.5%, and from 2020 to 2021, the sales volume of the refrigerated truck market will increase by more than 40% for two consecutive years.

Along with the growth of cold chain logistics vehicle ownership, there is also the "carbon emissions" of vehicles. Under the "double carbon" goal, the entire automobile industry is actively reducing carbon, and cold chain logistics and transportation are naturally no exception.

The "14th Five-Year Plan" Cold Chain Logistics Development Plan points out that it is necessary to accelerate the elimination of high-emission refrigerated vehicles and encourage new or updated refrigerated vehicles to adopt new energy models.

On January 21, 2022, the Ministry of Transport issued the "14th Five-Year Development Plan for Green Transportation", which clearly states: the application of pure electric logistics distribution vehicles in the central urban areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and other cities, and the pilot application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in intercity passenger transport, heavy trucks, cold chain logistics vehicles and other cities such as Zhangjiakou.

Therefore, it has become an inevitable trend for the mainland's cold chain logistics vehicles to "embrace" new energy sources such as pure electric and hydrogen fuel.

Cold chain logistics vehicles into the "hydrogen rail", is to meet the "double carbon" goal of the choice, but also for the cold chain logistics transportation quality and efficiency. As Liu Xingye said: "Refrigerated trucks for pulling food, agricultural and sideline products must use new energy vehicles, and hydrogen fuel refrigerated trucks are the safest, most environmentally friendly and most reliable." ”

The landing and operation of hydrogen fuel cold chain logistics vehicles can also provide a "hydrogen energy model" for reshaping the mainland's green and efficient cold chain logistics and transportation system, and effectively promote the iterative upgrading of new energy logistics and transportation equipment.

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