The fuel cell commercial vehicle market is gaining momentum

At present, the mainland's energy dependence on foreign countries is high, the structure needs to be optimized, and the carbon emissions are large. At the same time, hydrogen is widely present in nature, and the conversion process only produces water and energy, which does not pollute the environment. Due to its obvious advantages, hydrogen energy has become a force to be reckoned with in the field of new energy in China, and the fuel cell commercial vehicle market will be an important breakthrough for it.

Hydrogen energy has obvious advantages and broad prospects

The development of human society is inseparable from energy, and the chemical elements such as firewood and coal used at the beginning are almost all carbon, which will produce carbon dioxide after combustion, causing global temperature to rise and affect human survival. Later, people gradually shifted to the use of oil and gas, when the proportion of carbon decreased, the proportion of hydrogen increased, and eventually evolved into hydrogen energy without carbon.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) have jointly issued the Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of the Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clarifies that hydrogen energy is an important part of the future national energy system, an important carrier for the green and low-carbon transformation of energy-using terminals, and a key development direction for strategic emerging industries and future industries. As an efficient and low-carbon energy carrier and a green and clean industrial raw material, hydrogen energy has rich landing scenarios in transportation, industry, construction, power and other fields, and is expected to achieve rapid development in the future.

In recent years, the rapid development of hydrogen production technology has provided conditions for the development of hydrogen energy in mainland China. The abundant solar energy, wind energy and other renewable energy in the central and western regions provide a rich foundation for the acquisition of hydrogen energy, all of which provide a guarantee for the development of fuel cells.

Hou Ming, a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that fuel cells are widely used, mainly in the transportation and energy fields. In transportation, it can be regarded as a power generation device, whether it is a passenger car, commercial vehicle, ship, or aircraft, it can be widely used. In the energy field, fuel cells are also widely used, including distributed power stations, backup power supplies, etc. In addition to generating electricity, fuel cells also generate a certain amount of heat, which can be used for combined heat and power.

The plan also shows that it is planned to have 50,000 fuel cell vehicles in mainland China by 2025. According to this calculation, the average annual growth rate of fuel cell vehicle ownership in mainland China will exceed 50% in the next few years. Fuel cell vehicles mainly include fuel cell systems, on-board hydrogen storage systems, vehicle control systems, etc. Among them, the fuel cell system is the core, and the cost is expected to drop significantly with the advancement of technology and the expansion of scale.

Zero carbon is the biggest advantage of fuel cells

The team led by Fu Yu has participated in many national key projects, and has also led the product development of the first and second generation of domestic stacks as a core member. He said: "Compared with electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles only consume hydrogen and oxygen during use, generate electricity with high efficiency through electrochemical reactions, and finally discharge water, so 'zero carbon in the whole process is its biggest advantage', in addition, fuel cells are more suitable for long-distance heavy-duty transportation, low temperature resistance, can achieve low temperature start of minus 40 °C, and meet the requirements of low temperature operation." ”

It is reported that Jichong Hydrogen Energy, where Fu Yu is located, is currently mass-producing battery products for multiple models of fuel cell vehicles, including heavy trucks, muck trucks, cement mixer trucks, municipal sanitation vehicles, city buses and light trucks, etc., and fuel cell products for passenger cars are also in the process of entering the market. After several years of development, the team has successfully opened the "checkpoint" from R&D to manufacturing and application, and is getting closer to the ultimate goal of realizing the "whole industry chain".

"First of all, we must have hydrogen sources and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, secondly, we must have specific application scenarios and real needs, and finally we need to support the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and at the same time, we must consider the awareness and support of local governments for the industry." Fu Yu said. It is based on the comprehensive consideration of these factors that Jichong Hydrogen Energy has determined the layout of Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Henan, Guangdong and other provinces and cities.

Hou Ming said that the principle of fuel cells seems to be very simple, that is, hydrogen and oxygen produce water, and release electricity and heat. However, there are still many places, especially in some materials and manufacturing technology, there is still a gap with foreign countries, among which the stack, which is likened to the "heart" component of the fuel cell, requires multidisciplinary interdisciplinary and multi-element coupling, and there are still many problems to be solved, so there is a certain distance between what can be done and what can be done.

Fu Yu said that the breakthrough of technical parameters is only one aspect, and the development of fuel cells must ensure the life and reliability during use in order to successfully realize the application in automobiles. In addition, it is also necessary to continuously break through key technical bottlenecks and reduce costs, and form a relatively mature business model through demonstration applications, which is the logic behind the industrial layout. It is reported that in 2020, Jichong Hydrogen Energy took the lead in developing a single stack power of 143kW in the whole industry, breaking domestic and foreign records. At present, after continuous upgrading and iteration, the single stack power of this product has reached 216kW and has been mass-produced.

A good product is developed in a system

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, as the most important application field of hydrogen energy, the current production and sales of fuel cell vehicles have slowed down as a whole. The industry believes that with the gradual reduction of subsidies, the Matthew effect of the industry will become more obvious, which will further intensify the competition in the field of fuel cells. The fuel cell industry is about to break out, and the key point is who can successfully achieve a sustained leadership in both performance and price after the subsidy exit.

Fu Yu said that at present, the design verification and component development of Jichong hydrogen energy's new generation products have been completed, and it is expected that the power of the single stack will exceed 260kW and can be further upgraded in the future, and the single stack and power density will be increased by 20% to 30% compared with the past. In addition, the third-generation products will achieve technological breakthroughs and better meet the needs of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and rail transit.

"A single product is inseparable from the development of a system." Fu Yu said: "The development of fuel cells has been in the transition stage from pure fuel cell enterprises to car companies, and the biggest progress in this process will be to develop fuel cells from the perspective of auto parts and product development processes as vehicle engines." ”

Hou Ming believes that the development of the fuel cell industry is not achieved overnight, although it has embarked on the road of industrialization, but the development cycle of fuel cell products is long, and the samples must be fully tested and verified, and there is no rapid integration after the industrialization can be promoted, a generation of products needs at least many years to mature, and the industrial development should be gradual.

According to data, the scale of the national fuel cell market is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan by 2030. At present, the team has completed the development of 5kW backup power supply and 100kW data center backup power that can be used in scenarios such as 5G base stations, and the conceptual design of MW distributed fuel cell power stations has also been completed. In the future, through technological innovation, promotion and application, coordinated development of the industrial chain and intelligent application, the prospect of fuel cell technology will be broader.