This article comes from the WeChat public account: Automobile Industry (ID: autoreport) , author: Bai Chaoyang, from FIG title: IC photo
One layer of news and one layer of cold.
Recently, news about fuel cell vehicles is cool.
The fuel cell technology, which was once regarded as the “ultimate solution for new energy vehicles”, is so cool that even if the Ministry of Finance issues a promotion rule, no one seems willing to take a look.
On April 29th, the Ministry of Finance issued the “About Solicitation
Not only the domestic response to the fuel cell vehicles is cold, but abroad, Volkswagen Group and Daimler Group also voted against the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and have quit the group chat.
Public official website explains why pure electric is the correct route
The Volkswagen Group even issued a special article detailing the N crimes of fuel cell vehicles: the cost of vehicles is too high, the cost of hydrogen fuel is too high, the cost of building hydrogen refueling stations is too high, and the energy efficiency is too low.
If the first three cost issues can be diluted through scale, the fourth issue of thermal efficiency is equivalent to unilaterally announcing the death penalty for fuel cell passenger cars.
Fuel cell vehicles are not only costly, but also energy efficient
Volkswagen cited the independent research results of management consulting company Horvath & Partners: the efficiency of battery electric vehicles is 70% to 80%, which means that 3/4 of the electrical energy generated by the grid can be used for power propulsion. In contrast, the efficiency of fuel cell vehicles is much lower, and its only about 25% to 35% of the energy can really be used to drive cars label = “Remarks”> (Currently the most commonly used method of hydrogen production is electrolysis, which requires a lot of energy) .
That is to say, the energy consumed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle running a distance can be used to run a distance of 2 to 3 times on a battery electric vehicle. With such low energy efficiency, why is it so unsuccessful to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology?
The conclusion is that battery-powered electric vehicles in passenger cars are much more efficient than hydrogen fuels
As one of the two giants with annual sales of tens of millions of vehicles in the world, Volkswagen ’s “showdown” is a huge blow to the proponents of fuel cell technology. At present, another global giant, Toyota and BMW, are forming an alliance to firmly support the fuel cell vehicle technology route. Another supporter is Korea Hyundai Group.
Previously, mainstream TOP 10 car companies such as Ford, Honda, GM, Renault Nissan, etc., have more or less expressed their “dislike” for fuel cell vehicles.
Looking back at the development of fuel cell vehicles in recent years, it is indeed difficult. The only successes are very dependent on government support policies.
On the sales level, 2019, allSales of spherical fuel cell passenger cars are only 7,500 units , of which Toyota ’s Mirai is 2407 units. In contrast, global battery electric vehicle sales increased to 2.3 million units in 2019, of which Tesla alone reached 360,000 units.
In terms of bicycle prices, the cheapest battery-electric vehicles cost only tens of thousands of dollars, and the price of Tesla Model 3 bicycles has also dropped to tens of thousands. ( (Basically the same as fuel vehicles) ; Among the representative models of fuel cell vehicles, Hyundai NEXO prices are comparable to Audi Q7; Toyota Mirai is priced at nearly 500,000 yuan. According to some data, Mirai used about 100 grams of platinum as the catalyst. According to the current calculation of 181 yuan / gram, the catalyst alone used nearly 20,000 yuan; and the proton exchange membrane is more expensive, and the cost of one membrane is about 100,000 yuan; The cost of high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks also costs 60,000 ……
In terms of vehicle cost, The driving price of hydrogen fuel vehicles is about 9 to 12 euros per 100 kilometers. The price of battery electric vehicles is only 2 to 7 euros per 100 kilometers. = “text-remarks” label = “Remarks”> (depending on the electricity price of each country) , the gap is not small.
In terms of energy replenishment, although hydrogen refueling can be done in a few minutes, current hydrogen refueling stations are called “rare species” , and they are completely younger than the number of charging piles. More importantly, battery electric vehicles can be charged in their own garage, just like mobile phones, which is an unparalleled advantage of fuel cell vehicles.
It’s not difficult to understand why the Volkswagen Group has made a special publication on the official website to draw the line between fuel cells.
Volkswagen Group (China) Dr. Feng Sihan, CEO and CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand China, also said at the 2020 China Electric Vehicle Hundred , “When talking about new energy vehicles, I mean pure electric vehicles. We understand the great appeal of hydrogen energy as an energy source, but many studies have shown that in terms of energy efficiency, fuel cell vehicles and pure electric vehicles Automobiles are not competitive. Therefore, we believe that it is a wise choice to concentrate on the limited resources of society and further develop on the basis of the achievements already made. Our decision is very clear: Yu promotes electrification in the passenger car market . “
Dr. Frank Welsch, Technical Development Member of Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand Management Committee, also said: “If we want to take mobile mobility seriously and improve the overall environment, we must focus on battery electric vehicles. Everything else is a waste of limited renewable energy. “
As a die-hard fan of fuel cell vehicles, Honda also changed its position a while ago, announcing the abandonment of fuel cell passenger cars, and began to form an alliance with Isuzu to develop fuel cells, considering the transition to commercial vehicles. Toyota has also begun to come up with pressure tank bottom technology, and cooperated with Beiqi Foton to plan to produce hydrogen fuel cell buses with Chinese companies; Daimler and Volvo Trucks also announced recently that they plan to cooperate on the development and sales of fuel cell heavy trucks …
Hydrogen fuel cell technology in the heavy-duty long-distance transportation industry such as railway, aviation, and marine transportation may play an important role
Will the commercial vehicle market become a safe haven for fuel cell vehicles?
Although Volkswagen and many traditional car companies have not completely abandoned the commercial vehicle fuel cell technology route, the route dispute here is still fierce.
According to news, Toyota has invested heavily to win the sponsorship of the Tokyo Olympics, hoping to use the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, including passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
But also in 2021, Tesla Semi, which can drive 36 tons of cargo, will also be delivered in 5s; before that, BYD has delivered more than 50,000 pure electric buses to multiple markets around the world. The cumulative sales volume of passenger cars ranks first in the world.
This article comes from WeChat public account: Automobile Industry (ID: autoreport) , author : Bai Chaoyang