Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have sparked controversy again. How can they be used on a large scale?

Despite the many advantages of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, why have they not become mainstream? Recently, the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has again sparked controversy, and large-scale application may still take some time.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which are hailed as the "ultimate solution for new energy vehicles," have been the subject of much controversy recently.

At the 2019 TEDA Automotive Forum held recently, Song Qiuling, a first-level inspector of the Economic Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance, publicly stated, "my country's fuel cell vehicles do not yet have the conditions for large-scale promotion and application due to the lack of breakthroughs in core technologies and component technologies, insufficient infrastructure construction, lack of standards and regulations, and the lack of a system for hydrogen as an energy management." As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately sparked heated discussions in the industry.

At the same time, Yang Yusheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also questioned the necessity of large-scale demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in his speech. He believed that among long-range pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, micro-sized pure electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are more difficult to save energy and reduce emissions.

However, compared with pure electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which have advantages such as long driving range, high power performance, short refueling time, and no pollution, were once hailed as the "ultimate solution for new energy vehicles" by the industry. At present, how is the industrialization development progress of this solution in my country? What problems exist in the development process?

Fuel cell industrialization process

my country's research on fuel cells can be traced back to the 1950s, but for various reasons, the country has focused the development of the new energy vehicle industry on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. It was not until 2014 that hydrogen fuel cells were listed as key development tasks or key innovation directions in a number of programmatic documents, including the "National Innovation-Driven Development Strategy Outline", "Energy Development Strategic Action Plan (2014-2020)", "Energy Technology Revolution Innovation Action Plan (2016-2030)", "Energy Technology Revolution Key Innovation Action Roadmap" and "Automotive Industry Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan".

In the past two years, the attention paid to hydrogen energy and fuel cell vehicles has been unprecedentedly increased. From the establishment of the China Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance led by the State Energy Investment Group in early 2018 and participated by a number of central enterprises such as the State Grid Corporation of China, to the inclusion of hydrogen energy in the Government Work Report for the first time in March this year, a booming development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has been set off across the country.

At present, 23 provinces and cities in my country have successively released development plans for hydrogen energy and fuel cells. However, the best foundations are still in the Yangtze River Delta region centered on Shanghai, the Pearl River Delta region centered on Guangdong Province, the northern region supported by Tsinghua University, Beijing SinoHytec and Zhengzhou Yutong Bus, and the Zhangjiakou region with the Winter Olympics as a breakthrough.

According to incomplete statistics, listed companies such as SinoHytec, Meijin Energy, Houpu, Kailong, and Quanchai have invested no less than 26 billion yuan in the hydrogen energy field in 2019. In the first half of 2019 alone, the domestic investment plan for hydrogen energy industrial parks, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and related raw material projects has exceeded 200 billion yuan.

At present, the application of hydrogen fuel cell technology in my country has achieved a breakthrough in commercial vehicles, and has also been promoted and applied on a large scale in some coastal cities and developed regions in China. Data shows that from January to July this year, my country's production and sales of hydrogen fuel cells were 1,176 and 1,106 respectively. The cumulative number of fuel cell vehicles promoted and applied has exceeded 3,000, and nearly 30 hydrogen refueling stations have been put into operation.

According to the plan, my country plans to promote 50,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and build 300 hydrogen refueling stations by 2025. By 2030, it plans to promote 1 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and build 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations.

What are the problems?

The turnaround in the development of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry has not only enabled it to achieve technological breakthroughs in commercial vehicles, but has also been promoted and applied on a large scale in some regions. However, a careful analysis of this technology has revealed many problems in the development process, among which the most important ones are the lack of key components and technical cost problems.

First, compared with the international advanced level, my country's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry still has a large gap in basic materials and key components. For example, key components and materials such as proton exchange membranes, catalysts, carbon paper/carbon cloth, air compressors, and hydrogen injection pumps do not yet have the capacity for mass production and need to rely on imports. In the early stages of the fuel cell industry, the use of imported parts for assembly is one of the feasible paths, but if it relies on imports for a long time and the level of autonomy cannot be improved, the fuel cell industry will fall into a state of technological hollowing out.

Secondly, technology and cost are also a major problem. There is still a lack of high-efficiency, low-emission hydrogen production methods; and the safe transportation, distribution and storage of hydrogen also face the problem of high investment and energy consumption.

Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Tsinghua University, once pointed out that the main challenges facing the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in my country are hydrogen energy technology and cost issues. "my country's hydrogen energy technology lags behind fuel cell technology. Traditional hydrogen energy technologies such as alkaline electrolyzers and compressor refrigeration hydrogen liquefaction have problems of low efficiency and high cost. The entire industry chain needs to work together to promote technological breakthroughs."

It is understood that the comprehensive manufacturing cost of domestic fuel cell vehicles in 2018 was about 1.5 million yuan, and the cost of electric vehicles and fuel vehicles with similar performance was only 1/6 and 1/10 of the manufacturing cost of fuel cell vehicles. In addition, the use cost of fuel cell vehicles is mainly reflected in the costs of hydrogen preparation, storage, transportation and refueling. However, hydrogen transportation in my country is still a dangerous good, and only 200 kg can be transported each time. For freight trucks, it is basically empty running, and there is no economic benefit at present.

Where does the future lie?

Where will hydrogen fuel cell vehicles go in the future, as they are deeply affected by both their own problems and external factors?

After much debate, the industry generally believes that fuel cell vehicles and pure electric vehicles have different technical characteristics and their own suitable application scenarios. In the future, they should be complementary and coexist, rather than replace each other.

Cai Tuanjie, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport's Transportation Services Department, also pointed out that the promotion and application of new energy vehicles should be carried out according to local conditions. "Pure electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles each have their own advantages. We should adhere to market orientation and reduce administrative intervention based on the development environment and development goals."

Cai Tuanjie suggested that we should focus on the key technologies of hydrogen fuel cells, clarify the technical route of hydrogen fuel cells, and implement a technology innovation system with enterprises as the main body, market as the guide, and deep integration of industry, academia and research. According to him, taking advantage of the 2022 Winter Olympics, relevant departments are currently working with relevant departments in Beijing, Hebei and other places to determine the technical route of hydrogen fuel cells and accelerate the research and development of related key technologies.

Yi Baolian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that if fuel cell vehicles are to be widely used, their manufacturing cost must reach the level of lithium battery electric vehicles, and their running costs must reach the level of fuel vehicles. It is estimated that it will still take about 3 to 5 years to achieve this.

Regarding the technological breakthroughs of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, it specifically pointed out that mass production of key materials, electrocatalysts, proton exchange membranes, bipolar plates, etc. should be achieved as soon as possible to lay the foundation for reducing the cost of fuel cells and improving the consistency of fuel cells. At the same time, the specific power of fuel cells should be improved, the cost of fuel cells and the amount of platinum used should be reduced, and the reliability and durability of fuel cells should be further improved. It is hoped that my country will reduce the cost of fuel cell vehicles to a level close to that of lithium-ion battery vehicles between 2023 and 2025.