Relevant support policies have been introduced intensively in many places, and application demonstrations have been implemented one after another.
Our reporter Du Xin
"Workers Daily" (August 18, 2022 Edition 04)
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Since the beginning of this year, from the national level to the local level, policies to support the hydrogen energy industry have been introduced, and the hydrogen fuel cell industry has also ushered in an explosion.
With the maturity of related technologies, breakthroughs in commercial applications and gradual implementation, it is expected to establish a complementary development model of fuel cell electric vehicles and lithium battery pure electric vehicles in the future.
Shanghai proposes that by 2025, about 70 hydrogen refueling stations will be built, the number of fuel cell vehicles will exceed 10,000, and the scale of the hydrogen energy industry chain will exceed 100 billion yuan; Shandong proposes that by 2025, the cumulative promotion of fuel cell vehicles 10,000 vehicles, and a total of 100 hydrogen refueling stations have been built; Liaoning proposes that by 2025, the number of fuel cell vehicles (including buses, passenger cars, heavy trucks, tractors, sanitation vehicles, etc.) More than 30 hydrogen stations...
Recently, industrial policies or related measures related to hydrogen energy have been issued intensively in many places to support the development of the hydrogen fuel cell industry.
Research reports from a number of securities institutions have proposed that 2022 will be the first year of the explosion of the hydrogen energy and fuel cell industries.
What is the difference between hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries that are widely used today?
Is it another track for new energy vehicles?
"Lithium battery is electricity storage, hydrogen fuel cell is electricity generation"
Hydrogen energy is a kind of secondary energy with abundant sources, green and low carbon, and wide application. It is gradually becoming one of the important carriers of global energy transformation.
The reporter noticed that "low carbon" is mentioned in the policies supporting the hydrogen fuel cell industry in many places.
"In simple terms, lithium batteries are power storage, and hydrogen fuel cells are power generation." Ruan Yiliang, director of the marketing department of Weishi Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a technology enterprise focusing on the market-oriented operation of hydrogen fuel cell technology, said that hydrogen fuel cells mainly rely on hydrogen and The oxygen in the air undergoes a chemical reaction to generate electricity, which in turn drives the motor to drive the car. The emissions during the entire cycle are generally only water, which can achieve "zero carbon emissions".
Many pure electric vehicle owners reported that pure electric vehicles with lithium batteries on the market have problems such as short cruising range, obvious impact by low temperature environment, and slow charging.
In this regard, Ruan Yiliang said that compared with lithium batteries, hydrogen fuel cells have the advantages of high efficiency, environmental protection, strong environmental tolerance, and short filling time, and can better meet the environmental needs of long battery life, high temperature and high cold conditions.
However, for hydrogen fuel cells, there are still doubts in the market about their safety, high production costs, and the scarcity of platinum, the raw material for production.
"The hydrogen fuel cell system already has relatively complete safety control measures." Ruan Yiliang believes.
For the production cost, he calculated an account: At present, the average cost of fuel cell stacks can be controlled below 2,000 yuan/kW.
With the acceleration of scale effect and localization process, it is expected that by 2025, the cost of fuel cells can be controlled below 1,000 yuan/kW.
Hydrogen energy heavy trucks become a breakthrough in commercial applications
Last year, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Henan and Hebei were successively listed as national fuel cell vehicle demonstration and application city clusters.
The industry predicts that by 2025, the five major urban agglomerations will promote more than 32,000 fuel cell vehicles.
Data shows that in the first half of the year, the production of fuel cell vehicles has exceeded 1,500, and the sales volume is also close to 1,400.
In this regard, Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School, believes that on the one hand, support policies have been implemented in various places; on the other hand, related supporting facilities have been upgraded. For example, in some regions , opened up a special hydrogen fuel vehicle operation line, and improved infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations.
In the field of new energy, since hydrogen fuel cells are better able to meet the environmental requirements of long battery life, high temperature and alpine conditions compared to lithium batteries, heavy trucks with heavy load, long battery life and high efficiency requirements have become a breakthrough in the commercial application of hydrogen fuel cells. .
Ruan Yiliang said that compared with traditional diesel heavy trucks, hydrogen energy heavy trucks have obvious environmental advantages.
Compared with pure electric heavy trucks, hydrogen energy heavy trucks have the advantages of short filling time and long cruising range, and basically do not need to consider the problem of "winter range anxiety".
In March, the "Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration proposed that it should be based on the local hydrogen energy supply capacity, industrial environment and market space. Condition, combined with the development characteristics of the road transportation industry, focus on promoting the application of hydrogen fuel cells in medium and heavy vehicles.
Backed by Great Wall Motors, Weishi Energy has entered the national fuel cell vehicle demonstration and application city clusters such as Beijing and Hebei. The initial layout includes a hundred hydrogen-powered heavy trucks in Xiong'an New Area "Easy Line", Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Approval Logistics, Tianjin Hydrogen A number of demonstration projects including green automobile logistics and transportation.
Among them, 100 hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks of the "Easy Line" have been launched. This is the first demonstration application scenario of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks in China with large-scale intelligent network connection, vehicle-road coordination, and platooning.
The data shows that in 2021, the sales volume of hydrogen energy heavy trucks in my country will be 779, a year-on-year increase of 42 times, and the share of the new energy heavy truck market will increase from 0.7% in 2020 to 7.46%.
According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of this year, there have been at least 16 hydrogen energy heavy truck projects and application demonstrations in the country.
Complementary to Lithium Batteries
According to public information, in 2001, the national "863" plan electric vehicle major science and technology project clarified the "three vertical and three horizontal" research and development layout.
Among them, the "three verticals" are hybrid vehicles, pure electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles, and the "three horizontals" are batteries, motors, and electronic controls.
However, since the “Ten Cities, Thousands of Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Demonstration and Application Project” was launched in 2009, the development of fuel cell vehicles has not been as good as the other “two verticals” for various reasons.
However, in the process of accelerating the transformation of clean and low-carbon energy in my country, the development of hydrogen fuel cells has ushered in a turning point.
The "Plan" states: The hydrogen energy development and utilization technology represented by fuel cells has made major breakthroughs and provided important solutions for the realization of zero-emission energy utilization. It is necessary to firmly grasp the global energy reform and development trends and opportunities, and accelerate the cultivation and development of hydrogen energy industry.
Pan Helin believes that the core difficulty of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles lies in the logistics and transportation of hydrogen fuel. The volume of hydrogen is relatively large. Whether it is transported or used, the amount of hydrogen that can be loaded in vehicles is limited, and the cost of pressurized equipment is relatively high.
In the future, feasible technical solutions should be explored to reduce the difficulty of hydrogen storage and transportation.
Some enterprises and institutions are also accelerating the technological research and development of hydrogen fuel cells.
Ruan Yiliang said: "We have successively completed the industrial layout of core products such as fuel cell engines and on-board hydrogen storage systems, as well as key components such as membrane electrodes, bipolar plates, stacks, hydrogen storage cylinders, and high-pressure cylinder valves." Haima Automobile said Said that the company's fourth-generation hydrogen fuel cell is being developed, and will use higher power stacks and more efficient electric drive systems.
A research team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology recently developed a new hydrogen fuel cell that still uses platinum as a catalyst, but requires 80% less than the current amount.
For the future development of hydrogen fuel cells, the "Planning" makes it clear that a complementary development model of fuel cell electric vehicles and lithium battery pure electric vehicles will be gradually established.