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Recently, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA signed an agreement for Toyota to develop a new pressurized lunar rover for manned and unmanned lunar exploration. The lunar rover, called the Lunar Cruiser, is expected to be delivered in 2031.
The Lunar Cruiser is essentially an electric vehicle that can travel on the moon, which allows astronauts to take off their spacesuits in a pressurized environment and work and live for up to 1 month. Drive up to 8 hours a day, 6 consecutive days.
In addition, the Lunar Cruiser has autopilot capabilities to navigate completely unknown off-road terrain. It uses lidar to avoid craters and rocks, and uses "regenerative fuel cells" (RFCs) combined with solar panels to help sustain life on board.
Earlier, Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation and former chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said that Toyota holds 70% of the patents in the field of hydrogen energy and has invested huge sums of money, but has not profited from it.
However, Toyota also admits that hydrogen energy is not suitable for passenger cars, and Toyota's chief technology officer Hiroki Nakajima also pointed out that they have tried to launch the Mirai (a hydrogen energy vehicle), but it has not been successful because hydrogen refueling stations are few and difficult to achieve, so the sales of Mirai are small. However, Toyota said that they will focus on hydrogen commercial vehicles, and hydrogen passenger cars will not be completely abandoned.
When it comes to electric vehicles, Akio Toyoda has always been resistant. He called electric cars a "low-end product" and said he would resist them to the end. In fact, Toyota introduced electric cars in the 90s of the last century. He also pointed out that if all the world's cars were replaced with electric vehicles, it would require twice as much electricity as it is today, putting a huge strain on the grid and also creating more carbon emissions.
The cost structure of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are vehicles that use hydrogen energy to replace traditional energy sources and use fuel cell systems as the power source or main power source. It converts the chemical energy of hydrogen at the anode and oxygen at the cathode into electricity through an electrochemical reaction without involving combustion, and the reaction products are only electricity, heat, and water. At the same time, hydrogen has 3 times the calorific value of conventional gasoline. According to the cost of each link of the industrial chain, the fuel cell system is the core of the fuel cell vehicle industry, and its cost accounts for 50% of the cost of the whole vehicle, which is much higher than the battery cost of pure electric vehicles.
Fuel cell vehicle features:
As an important technical direction of new energy vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are of great significance for stabilizing energy supply, improving energy structure and maintaining the sustainable development of the automobile industry. Countries are paying more attention to and paying more attention to it. At the same time, countries are implementing hydrogen energy infrastructure construction and vehicle promotion in tandem, and deploying in advance to meet the needs of commercial development.
Analysis of fuel cell vehicle production in China
According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production of fuel cell vehicles in mainland China fluctuated from 2015 to 2022, with more than 1,700 units in 2021, an increase of 49% year-on-year. In the first three quarters of 2022, Continental's fuel cell vehicle production continued to rebound, exceeding 2,300 units.
From the perspective of the proportion of fuel cell vehicles in the total production of new energy vehicles in the mainland, it has remained below 0.2% from 2017 to 2022, and has further declined in recent years, which reflects that the development of domestic fuel cell vehicles is still in its infancy.
Musk has bluntly called hydrogen energy "the dumbest choice in energy storage". He believes that the hydrogen production process is not only not environmentally friendly but also very costly, and the power consumption to produce 1kg of hydrogen is as high as 50kWh, and 50kWh of electricity can easily drive an electric car for 400km. This technological route is not only inefficient and costly, but also dangerous to transport, and we should focus on developing batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable energy. This is the right direction for sustainable mobility.
Qianzhan Industry Research Institute believes that the future development direction of fuel cell vehicle production technology will mainly focus on the miniaturization of fuel cells, the improvement of endurance, low-temperature start-up, durability, fuel recovery and cost reduction. In terms of application, the industrialization level of fuel cells in mainland China will gradually improve, and the purchase cost of fuel cell vehicles will continue to decrease, so the application prospects of fuel cell vehicles are good.
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For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Global and China Hydrogen Fuel Cell Industry Market Research and Investment Prospect Analysis Report" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute
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