Mingming from the automobile culture market has his own small circle in the field of automobile consumption. What they care most about the hydrogen energy industry is whether fuel cell vehicles have any advantages? When will it be as popular as lithium-ion battery cars? This is a consumer facing article.


Since I have served the automobile culture industry for many years, after switching to the hydrogen energy industry, I will still talk about automobile-related topics with some friends around me, so I will mention the development prospects of fuel cell vehicles in the future automobile market from time to time. However, since lithium battery vehicles are relatively popular in the market today, when I mention fuel cell vehicles, many friends still tend to confuse the concept of fuel cell vehicles with the working principle of lithium battery vehicles. In response to this phenomenon, this time we will briefly talk about the working principle of fuel cell vehicles and related core components, as well as the differences between them and internal combustion engines and lithium batteries.

Fuel cells are not "batteries"

Yes, strictly speaking, although fuel cells are called batteries, they are not actually "batteries" that we understand as purely for energy storage like lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries. Literally, " A "battery" is a "reservoir" of electricity, a device that stores electrical energy.

The working principle of the fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy in the fuel into electrical energy through redox reactions. Unlike ordinary batteries that store and release energy through charging and discharging, fuel cells can achieve continuous discharge by continuously adding fuel. The effect, in simple terms, its working process is to generate electricity by adding fuel to continue the oxidation-reduction reaction. The most commonly used fuel is hydrogen, and the hydrogen and oxygen at the positive and negative electrodes produce oxidation-reduction reactions through the electrolyte. During the process, electrons are conducted from the anode to the cathode, thereby forming a current.

Therefore, it can also be said that a fuel cell vehicle combines the characteristics of an internal combustion engine vehicle and a lithium battery vehicle. It can not only maintain the battery life by quickly replenishing fuel (hydrogen), but also because it mainly generates electricity, and the emissions are hydrogen and oxygen electrolysis. The water formed by the water retrograde reaction can therefore achieve fast and efficient charging, and can also meet the true zero-emission environmental protection requirements, making up for the shortcomings of both internal combustion engines and lithium batteries.

The development process of fuel cells

In 1839, British physicist William Grove (William Robert Grove) produced the first fuel cell. The theory in the magazine, Grove verified and perfected the theory the following year after seeing it, and published the design sketch of the fuel cell in the "Philosophical Journal and Journal of Science" in 1842

Grove's design used a sulfuric acid solution as the electrolyte, in a form more similar to today's lead-acid batteries. It was not until 1955, after the improvement of W. Thomas Grubb, a general electrical chemical engineer, that a fuel cell using a sulfonated polystyrene ion-exchange membrane as an electrolyte really came out, and three years later , his General Electric colleague Leonard Niedrach further brought platinum into the exchange membrane as a catalyst for the reduction reaction, and named it "Grubb-Niedrach fuel cell", so far Laid the foundation prototype of modern PEM fuel cell.

Under the joint development of NASA and General Electric in the later period, fuel cells were also applied in many commercial projects and aerospace projects. The source of water. In 1991, American scientist Roger E. Billings (Roger E. Billings) successfully manufactured the first hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle—LaserCel 1, which officially opened the prelude to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. .

The first fuel cell vehicle made by Roger Billings - LaserCel 1, it can be seen that the prototype is an original Ford Fiesta

At this stage, the application of fuel cell technology in the world has entered the stage of industrialization development, but the most widely used is household heat and power cogeneration. In Japan, this product has sold more than 400,000 units, and it is already economical. It was Toyota Mirai and Hyundai NEXO that really brought fuel cell vehicles into industrialization. In 2014, Toyota announced that the overall cost of fuel cells had dropped to 1/20 of that in 2008, which became a turning point in the global industrialization of fuel cell vehicles. China is still in the fuel cell verification stage, while the United States is verifying through the large-scale application of forklifts.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fuel Cells

Getting rid of resource constraints and environmental constraints is the core purpose of new energy development. First of all, hydrogen has a wide range of sources and is not limited by resources. At present, the fuel cell catalyst uses platinum resources, but compared with the 30kg of lithium carbonate required for each vehicle of lithium batteries, the platinum consumption of fuel cells is calculated in grams, and the recovery of platinum reaches more than 90%, and the recovery cost is lower than Resource extraction costs, so fuel cells are basically not subject to resource constraints.

Secondly, from the perspective of carbon peaking, the use of green electricity to produce green hydrogen can truly achieve green travel. Fuel cell vehicles consume hydrogen and excrete water, and there is almost no pollution in the platinum recovery process.

Third, consumers are more concerned about the driving experience. It takes about 3-5 minutes to add hydrogen to a fuel cell vehicle (commercial vehicles within 15 minutes), and it can last for about 600-800km, and it can start normally below minus 30 degrees, and there is no problem of battery power loss. Obviously, in cold regions Reduced a lot of anxiety. The initial plan for the Beijing Winter Olympics was not a fuel cell vehicle. It was changed to a fuel cell vehicle plan because lithium batteries were not suitable for the low temperature weather in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. This time, the 1,200 fuel cell vehicles have well verified this performance.

The fourth is safety. The fuel cell itself does not store energy, so the safety in the car is relatively high.

The disadvantage is that hydrogen energy is the lightest gas, which is very difficult to manage, and the safety requirements in the storage and transportation process are also high, and the corresponding storage and transportation costs are relatively high. This is the biggest disadvantage of the development of the hydrogen energy industry. This has also promoted the development of various hydrogen storage technologies, including liquid hydrogen, solid-state hydrogen storage, and organic compound hydrogen storage.

Current status and divergent paths of fuel cell vehicles

The application scenarios of fuel cells are quite rich, such as ships, forklifts, rockets, aircraft, distributed power supplies, etc. The reason why fuel cell vehicles have received more attention is that their commercial market is relatively broad. Once mature, the speed of implementation and popularization It is relatively fast and can have a huge impact on the entire industry.

Although hydrogen energy and fuel cells have been developed and entered into the commercial field for many years, they are still far away from everyday consumers. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can effectively shorten this distance and improve consumers' inherent views on hydrogen energy.

However, there are some differences in the development paths of various countries. The prototypes developed by major automakers in the early days are all passenger cars, and the mass-produced models in Japan and South Korea are also passenger cars, but China and the United States are mainly commercial vehicles.

Since Billings produced the first fuel cell vehicle, many manufacturers have also seen the market prospect and environmental protection potential of hydrogen energy. After entering the 21st century, major manufacturers have also launched some hydrogen fuel cell vehicle concept cars Or a test car, but in the later period due to the vigorous development of the lithium battery market, many manufacturers had to temporarily shelve or cancel the fuel cell vehicle plan.

With the increasing cost of lithium resources, some mainstream automakers have gradually returned to the field of fuel cell vehicles in recent years, such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Daimler, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, GM, etc., have announced Development plan for fuel cell vehicles.

According to the statistics of the magazine "Car and Drive", as of 2022, there are currently about 15,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road in California, and with the development of hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen energy storage and transportation systems, it is believed that fuel cell vehicles will The inventory will gradually increase.

In addition to Japan, California is currently Mirai's largest market

It is also one of the two markets in the world where fuel cell vehicles have sold more than 10,000 units

Our exploration of hydrogen vehicles is not limited to fuel cells. Both BMW and Mazda have launched hydrogen hybrid models and launched them as small-scale mass-produced models. However, due to technical reasons and the harsh hydrogen refueling conditions at that time , These models can only be submerged in the large automobile market with an annual output of tens of millions.

But in recent years, with the demonstration and application of the hydrogen energy industry, whether it is technological progress or the construction of hydrogen refueling stations, the enthusiasm for these once abandoned technical routes has been rekindled. On June 15, 2021, Honda announced the closure of the Sayama plant in Japan and the discontinuation of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle CLARITYFUELCELL. The electric car will be produced at its high-performance manufacturing center in Ohio, USA.

Toyota has also been continuously testing hydrogen internal combustion engine models in recent years as a technical reserve. Of course, we are mainly talking about fuel cell vehicles this time. As for hydrogen internal combustion engines or hydrogen hybrids, if you are interested, we can find another opportunity to talk in detail.

Both BMW and Mazda have launched hydrogen hybrid models. Among them, BMW’s Hydrogen 7 has launched E38/E65 two-generation versions, while Mazda’s RX8 Hydrogen RE has mass-produced 30 units. The author’s first car is Mazda’s RX8, so when the hydrogen-powered version was launched, I paid special attention to it for a while.

V8 hydrogen internal combustion engine jointly developed by Toyota and Yamaha

It may make many friends who like large-displacement fuel vehicles see the hope that they can still drive large-displacement vehicles in the future

After I switched careers and started to understand the hydrogen energy industry, when chatting with my friends, many people asked me why it is difficult for us to see fuel cell vehicles now. I usually give them one-sided explanations. The development direction of fuel cell vehicles is mainly commercial vehicles rather than passenger vehicles. In fact, if you pay attention to some hydrogen energy demonstration cities, although fuel cell passenger vehicles are not yet seen, there may be sanitation vehicles, buses, garbage Fuel cell vehicles of commercial vehicles such as trucks and logistics vehicles are already on the road.

In addition, since my country's current hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen energy pipeline network construction cannot meet the needs of the passenger car market, passenger cars are only partially piloted in Guangdong and Shanghai. With the current infrastructure, passenger cars will be widely promoted The conditions are not yet available. According to statistics, the sales volume of fuel cell vehicles in my country from January to October this year is about 3,000, of which the sales volume of passenger vehicles is less than 5%. Therefore, first accumulate technical experience in the industry through commercial vehicles and increase investment in infrastructure construction , will be more conducive to the future development of the fuel cell passenger car market.

Hydrogen fuel cells not only have the characteristics of long battery life, but also its battery life is not affected by temperature and environment. It can be used as an ideal driving method for production tools. However, due to the current high price of hydrogen, a lot of policy support is still needed to stimulate the market.

Although some passenger car manufacturers in my country have launched fuel cell models, the country's current development direction is mainly commercial vehicles, such as SAIC, Weichai, Foton, Yutong, Zhongtong, Jiangling, Mercedes-Benz, etc., are actively Develop hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles. Looking at the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, although some technologies in my country are relatively behind the same industries in Europe and the United States, because my country's current market policy is more inclined to commercial vehicles, the technical threshold to cross is higher. With the gradual expansion of the market, in the technology While gradually maturing, the cost will gradually decrease.

Bottleneck of industrialization of fuel cell vehicles

As mentioned above, the biggest bottleneck of fuel cell vehicles at this stage is still the supply of hydrogen. We can take the current number of gas stations and road mileage in Beijing as an example. As of now, the road mileage in Beijing is about 22,300 kilometers, and there are about 1,030 gas stations. Only 14 hydrogen refueling stations are currently in use. A gas station can be found every 21.6 kilometers, while a hydrogen refueling station needs to be found every 1592 kilometers.

At present, most of Beijing's hydrogen refueling stations are located in the suburbs, which were once supporting facilities for the Winter Olympics. Although Beijing currently has a plan to build and put into use 74 hydrogen refueling stations by 2025, compared to the number of gas stations Still more than an order of magnitude worse.

South Korea is the country with the fastest promotion of fuel cell vehicles in the world. At present, South Korea has more than 23,000 fuel cell vehicles in operation, while my country has about 5,000 vehicles in operation. So far, my country has 290 hydrogen refueling stations, while South Korea has only more than 120 hydrogen refueling stations. By the third quarter of this year, the cumulative sales in my country were 11,027, and the cumulative sales in South Korea were 31,596. Calculated by the ratio of cumulative sales of fuel cell vehicles to hydrogen refueling stations, the proportion of vehicles in my country is 38.02:1, and the ratio of stations in South Korea is 263.3:1.

But a practical problem is that our country has a large land area. The 290 hydrogen refueling stations planned by the local government are distributed in 27 provinces on a land of 960 square kilometers across the country. The average area served by each hydrogen refueling station is 33,100 square kilometers. , even if hydrogen refueling stations are distributed in relatively economically developed areas, we calculate based on 50% of the country's land area, and the average radiation radius of each hydrogen refueling station is 16,550 square kilometers; while South Korea's 120 hydrogen refueling stations are distributed over 103,300 square kilometers In the national land area, the average area radiated by each hydrogen refueling station is only 860 square kilometers.

my country's Guangdong Province has 179,700 square kilometers, which exceeds the overall land area of South Korea. It can be seen that even Guangdong Province, which has the most hydrogen refueling stations, cannot reach the density of South Korea's hydrogen refueling stations. Originally, the hydrogen refueling stations in Guangdong Province were mainly concentrated in Foshan City. The density of hydrogen refueling stations in this area is already very high, but there is a shortage of both fossil energy hydrogen production and industrial by-product hydrogen, and hydrogen production from renewable energy has not yet started. The cost of hydrogen is too high, resulting in the loss of operating vehicles, and the huge gap in hydrogen supply cannot meet the full-load working demand of hydrogen refueling stations.

In addition, because the overall commercialization degree of the global fuel cell industry chain is not high and the scale is not large enough, the relative cost is relatively high. And if the fuel cell wants to achieve the ideal zero-emission environmental protection standard as much as possible, in addition to the source of hydrogen must be green hydrogen produced by green electricity, green electricity should also be used as much as possible in the production process of the equipment.

Although my country's current wind energy and photovoltaic green power projects are developing rapidly, compared with thermal power, there is still a certain difference in electricity prices in some areas where wind energy and photovoltaics are underdeveloped. There may not be much difference for personal use, but in industrial production It will still increase the overall production cost.

The Future of Fuel Cell Vehicles

At present, although some companies in my country, such as Guangzhou Automobile, Hongqi, Changan, Haima, SAIC, etc., are developing fuel cell passenger vehicles, and Toyota has also started the sales of Mirai II in China, the price is generally higher than that of lithium battery vehicles, and The most important thing is that consumers have to face the pain point of hydrogen refueling difficulties.

Although fuel cell vehicles have not yet opened up in the new energy vehicle market, the increase in sales is more dependent on the development of policies, but this in itself is a new energy vehicle from the entry into force.

The process that must be experienced in the market is to gradually solve the relevant infrastructure supporting facilities through the trial of commercial vehicles on a relatively fixed route, and continue to increase the density.

From the perspective of developed countries such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, they all started with fuel cell vehicles in the early stage, but encountered bottlenecks in the supply of hydrogen energy during the development process, and then turned back to invest in hydrogen production, storage and transportation projects . The current situation in my country is similar. Over the past two decades, the focus of attention and investment has been on fuel cells, but the hydrogen refueling station and electrolyzer projects have accelerated significantly in the past two years.

At the same time, with technological progress and large-scale development, the production cost of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain can be greatly reduced. Fuel cell vehicles rely on their environmental protection, convenient energy replenishment, and many advantages that are not affected by environmental factors. When the infrastructure conditions are mature, the situation can be opened .

Judging from the hydrogen energy plans issued by various regions, the demonstration period in most regions is still dominated by commercial vehicles until 2025, and the plans for 2030 in some regions involve passenger vehicles. However, we believe that the development of fuel cell passenger vehicles is more a market dominated by vehicle manufacturers after the infrastructure is relatively mature and the cost meets market expectations. By 2030, the cost of fuel cells will drop from the current 4,000 yuan/kW to Within 1000 yuan/kW, the cost of hydrogen is reduced to 25 yuan/kg. With the superior performance advantages of fuel cells, we have good expectations for its application prospects.

As for whether fuel cells or hydrogen internal combustion will become the future, there is not much conflict between these two products at the root. I think the final result of the consumer market still needs to be decided by consumers.