At the recently concluded 2024 Hannover Motor Show in Germany, the Hydrogen Engine Alliance, together with industry partners such as Cummins, MAN, and Bosch, emphasized that hydrogen internal combustion engines will play an important role in the global decarbonization process. In addition, hydrogen internal combustion engine technology offers economic advantages in terms of initial investment costs compared to other zero-carbon technologies.
Hydrogen internal combustion engines are in the spotlight
Under the global trend of energy conservation and emission reduction, it is urgent for the transportation industry to accelerate the process of carbon reduction and decarbonization. As a key element in promoting energy transformation and upgrading, hydrogen energy has become the focus of competition for commercial vehicles and internal combustion engine companies to carry out diversified technology research and development around hydrogen fuel. Among them, hydrogen internal combustion engines can not only meet the requirements of emission reduction, but also comparable to traditional internal combustion engines in terms of cost of use. This unique advantage makes it stand out from many new energy power technology competitions and becomes the solution that many enterprises prioritize.
At present, Europe is making every effort to promote the development of hydrogen power industry, and many commercial vehicle manufacturers are paying attention to or have begun to conduct feasibility studies on hydrogen internal combustion engines. They generally agreed that hydrogen combustion engines are a relatively low-barrier to implementation and cost-effective option.
In addition, United States power equipment manufacturing giant Cummins has launched the hydrogen fuel internal combustion engine (H2-ICE) program, which focuses on the research and development of 6.7-liter medium-sized and 15-liter heavy-duty hydrogen internal combustion engines. Jane Beaman, vice president of Cummins' global road and pickup business, said that hydrogen internal combustion engines rely on decades of proven internal combustion engine technology in the industry to provide strong support for the global goal of zero emissions. Hydrogen combustion engines are not only similar in appearance to conventional engines, but their components are also highly compatible with the components used in today's vehicles, which greatly simplifies the integration process and reduces complexity for vehicle manufacturers. What's more, hydrogen internal combustion engines can use zero-carbon hydrogen fuels to achieve very low emissions, which is a key technology to help the world achieve carbon reduction goals.
In addition to European and American commercial vehicle companies accelerating the layout of research and development of hydrogen internal combustion engine technology, mainland vehicle and parts companies have also made breakthroughs in this field. For example, FAW Jiefang's first domestic heavy-duty commercial vehicle in-cylinder direct-injection hydrogen engine independently developed by FAW Jiefang has achieved stable operation, with an operating power of more than 368kW and an indicated thermal efficiency of more than 55%; The heavy-duty truck equipped with a 13-liter hydrogen internal combustion engine jointly launched by China National Heavy Duty Truck and Weichai Power has an effective thermal efficiency of 41.8%; In addition, the thermal efficiency of the YCK16H hydrogen engine independently developed by Yuchai has exceeded 45%, and the maximum output power has reached 412kW, reaching the world's advanced level.
At this year's Hannover Motor Show, Weichai showcased the WP15 hydrogen internal combustion engine, which effectively reduces fuel consumption rates and achieves lower operating costs by precisely controlling the hydrogen supply and combustion process. In addition, the WP15 hydrogen internal combustion engine can also adapt to a variety of complex working conditions and harsh environments, ensuring long-term stable operation of the engine and achieving the goal of near-zero emissions.
The advantages of hydrogen internal combustion engines are significant
Domestic and foreign enterprises have poured into the field of hydrogen internal combustion engines, so that the value and potential of this technical route is gradually being recognized.
"The performance of hydrogen internal combustion engines has fully reached the standard of large-scale mass production, and mainstream enterprises have generally completed relevant technology research and development and product reserves." Han Zhiyu, a professor at Tongji University's School of Automotive, believes that there are no fundamental scientific problems in the field of hydrogen internal combustion engines, and the key lies in breakthroughs in engineering technology. At present, relying on the profound heritage of internal combustion engine technology, hydrogen internal combustion engine technology has developed to a certain height, and the overall performance of its power system is sufficient to support mass production applications. In addition, the thermal efficiency of hydrogen internal combustion engines has exceeded 40%, which is better in the field of commercial vehicles, and is close to the level of traditional fuel internal combustion engines, but there is still room for improvement in the wear resistance of hydrogen-related parts such as nozzles. In the future, with the continuous advancement of industrialization, these details are expected to be continuously optimized and solved in mass production practice.
"More importantly, hydrogen internal combustion engines have more cost and promotion advantages." Cheng Xiaobei, a professor at the School of Energy and Power of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that on the one hand, hydrogen internal combustion engines have good fuel adaptability, which can not only use pure hydrogen as a power source, but also be mixed with methanol and ammonia fuel, effectively reducing dependence on petroleum resources; On the other hand, the hydrogen internal combustion engine is more efficient and economical in terms of technical implementation, it retains the main architecture of the traditional internal combustion engine, and can rely on the existing industrial system for low-cost mass production, eliminating the high cost and time investment of rebuilding the industrial chain. In addition, compared with fuel cells, hydrogen internal combustion engine technology is less difficult to implement, the cost investment is more controllable, and it can be popularized and applied on a larger scale in a shorter time.
"Hydrogen combustion engines also offer significant advantages in terms of emissions." Lu Xindi, chief technical master of Dachai Plant of FAW Jiefang Powertrain Division, said that unlike diesel engines, hydrogen internal combustion engines mainly generate water vapor during the combustion process, which almost does not produce greenhouse gases and other harmful substances, and can achieve green emissions in the true sense. This also means that hydrogen combustion engines can effectively reduce the negative impact of trucking on air quality, helping to alleviate the growing problem of environmental pollution.
In Han Zhiyu's view, hydrogen internal combustion engines are easier to achieve large-scale market application by virtue of their advantages such as being able to "eat coarse grains", high economic benefits and low difficulty in industrial chain integration. However, he also pointed out that compared with hydrogen fuel cells, the current policy support for hydrogen internal combustion engines is significantly insufficient. "We should avoid excessive policy intervention in the choice of technical routes, and instead let the market be the determining factor. Allowing hydrogen combustion engines and fuel cell technologies to compete freely in the market will be more conducive to driving the green transformation of the automotive industry. Han Zhiyu emphasized that as a forward-looking technology, hydrogen internal combustion engine has good application prospects, and may even have more market application potential than fuel cells. Therefore, policy support and promotion are urgently needed at this stage.
Some overseas researchers have systematically compared and analyzed the cost-effectiveness of hydrogen internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and have come to the following conclusions: in the field of light buses, when the annual output exceeds 100,000 units, the economy of fuel cell vehicles is better than that of hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles; In heavy-duty trucks, buses and other fields, even if the annual production is only 5,000 units, hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles can still show significant cost advantages. From this point of view, hydrogen internal combustion engines will have strong competitiveness in specific markets for commercial vehicles in the future.
The problem of constraints cannot be ignored
Hydrogen internal combustion engines have broad development prospects in the field of commercial vehicles and have become a general consensus in the industry. However, it should not be ignored that the hydrogen internal combustion engine industry is still in its infancy, and there are still many challenges to achieve large-scale promotion.
"Hydrogen has a very low volumetric energy density at room temperature and pressure, so it needs to be liquefied to meet the subsequent storage, transportation and application needs. However, this liquefaction process has a large energy loss, and the conversion cost is relatively high under the current technical conditions. In addition, in order to ensure the stability of liquefied hydrogen storage, special containers are required, which have the characteristics of frost resistance, pressure resistance and strict thermal insulation, which is difficult and expensive to manufacture. In the future, the development of green and efficient hydrogen production technology and solving the problem of hydrogen storage is crucial to the development of hydrogen internal combustion engines. At the same time, it should be noted that the lack of infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations is another major challenge hindering the development of hydrogen internal combustion engines. Han Zhiyu pointed out that if hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can share infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations, it can not only effectively alleviate the problem of insufficient hydrogen system infrastructure construction, but also significantly improve the operational efficiency of fuel cell vehicle hydrogen refueling stations with low utilization rate. From this point of view, the development of hydrogen internal combustion engines is of positive significance.
Sun Baigang, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, pointed out that although hydrogen internal combustion engines have certain advantages in terms of environmental protection, energy efficiency and economy, their technical maturity still needs to be improved. Specifically, there are still technical bottlenecks in the accuracy of hydrogen combustion control and the safety of on-board hydrogen storage systems, which need to be overcome by optimizing engine combustion control strategies and adjusting system design. At the same time, the durability and reliability of hydrogen internal combustion engines need to be verified over a long period of time to ensure that they can serve the majority of transportation practitioners stably and reliably.
In Lu Xindi's view, policy support is of great significance for the development of the hydrogen internal combustion engine industry. He pointed out that at present, the policy and regulatory system for hydrogen internal combustion engines is not perfect, and there is a lack of clear development routes and incentives. Therefore, he called on the government to formulate and introduce relevant policies to increase support for the development and application of hydrogen internal combustion engines.
At this year's Hannover Motor Show, the Hydrogen Engine Alliance also proposed that hydrogen internal combustion engines should be formally included in the zero-emission system at the legal level to promote the global application of the technology. In this regard, Jane Beaman said that although hydrogen internal combustion engine technology has made some progress in some parts of the world, we still need to work together to integrate it into the broader global carbon emission reduction policy system, which will help accelerate the construction of hydrogen energy infrastructure and strongly promote the wider popularization and application of this technology.
Text: Wang Jinyu Editor: Sun Weichuan Layout: Zhao Fangting
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