For enterprises in automobile-related fields, the grand CES in Las Vegas can be said to be the best opportunity for them to demonstrate cutting-edge transportation technology. Through Ford's Mach-E electric mustang, Barton's M-Byte crossover, Fisk's ocean and other cars? SUV, even Sony's electric car and other products, we are convinced that the wave of electrification is unstoppable.
But the exhibition in 2020 also revealed another message. As a clean fuel, although the impact of hydrogen on the passenger car market can be ignored, it has the potential of not being fully developed as a power source for commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, drones and cities.
Recall that a year ago, we saw the modern hydrogen fuel cell car Nexo at CES, and the whole booth presented the concept of "future hydrogen life"; I saw Mercedes-Benz GLC at CES in Asia in the middle of the year. Fuel cell vehicles; SAIC· Chase initiated the G20? FC hydrogen fuel cell vehicle adopts the third generation fuel cell system independently developed by itself, and the 70MPa hydrogen bottle hydrogen supply system is applied for the first time in China.
At CES in 2020, we not only saw a larger wave of hydrogen fuel cells, but also more and more enterprises participated in it, and the products themselves broke through the automotive field and became more diversified.
Toyota's Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car has been on the market for five years, and the company said that it will use decades of hydrogen fuel research and development technology to make a car called Woven? Cities are used to show environmental protection technologies, autonomous driving, travel modes, artificial intelligence and new buildings. The project is expected to start in 20021year, and 2000 residents will settle here.
"Powered by Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell technology, this will be a truly unique opportunity to create a complete community or city from scratch and interweave the interconnected, digital and sustainable future infrastructure with people's lives." Toyota President Akio Toyoda said.
It is reported that this "Toyota City" covering an area of 175 acres (about 700,000 square meters) will be equipped with a hydrogen power system, supplemented by a large number of rooftop solar devices.
Japanese car companies are determined to promote the hydrogen energy strategy. But looking at the world, several major auto giants are not absent.
Volkswagen's Audi 20 16 demonstrated the h-tron? Quattro hydrogen fuel cell concept car; At the 20 19 Frankfurt Motor Show, BMW released a car called I? Hydrogen? Next, based on BMW X5, it is equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell power system.
Like Toyota, Daimler has been committed to the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles since the 1990s.
Daimler's current fuel cell vehicles include Mercedes-Benz buses, Fusang trucks and F-Cell? Sport utility vehicle
In this regard, Marcus, a member of Mercedes-Benz's board of directors, head of group research and development and Mercedes-Benz passenger car research and development? Schaffer (Marcus? Sch？ Fer) said that although Mercedes-Benz has launched hydrogen fuel cell versions of SUVs in several markets, the parent company is shifting the application focus of this technology to heavy trucks and buses.
"One of the big challenges of truck products is long-distance transportation, which makes it not suitable for the pure battery electric version, at least according to the existing battery level." Schaefer said at the CES conference, "For us, the promotion of fuel cells will start with buses and trucks."
At the end of 20 19, Daimler said that it would increase the production of fuel cell trucks from the end of 1920s to compete with Toyota and start-ups.
"There is no problem with fuel cell technology itself, and cost and scale are the key to restricting its development." Shafer explained, "Our advantage is that we have trucks. Daimler is one of the largest truck manufacturers in the world, and its Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Fusang and Folena all have related products. "
He went on to say that the company is designing a modular system that allows different types of commercial vehicles to use the same hydrogen fuel cell structure, so as to increase or decrease according to the size or scope of use of the vehicle. "In the next two to three years, hydrogen fuel cells will make a difference in the commercial field." Schaefer gave such an answer.
In the past few years, Toyota has been testing hydrogen fuel cell trucks in Los Angeles; Renault took hydrogen fuel as its selling point years ago, and said that it would release the hydrogen fuel cell version of Renault Master van at the Faurecia booth. Hyundai Motor and Nikola also aim at zero-emission hydrogen fuel trucks; Modern Mobius operates the world's largest production line of hydrogen fuel cell modules.
Cars powered by pure batteries and hydrogen fuel cells use electricity, which means that they can enjoy the same motor and many other components. The key difference is that the former depends on the electric energy stored in the battery, while the latter is an electrochemical process that allows hydrogen to pass through the fuel cell membrane to generate electric energy as needed.
The advantages of hydrogen fuel cell are high energy conversion efficiency and no mechanical transmission parts, so there is no noise pollution, the main by-product is water vapor, and the harmful gases emitted are few. In addition to cars and trucks, this technology has been used as a fixed generator by NASA for decades and is now being developed to drive trains, even ships and ferries.
The Twitter sent by Nicola Motor Company and Ryder, one of its partners, showed futuristic models at CES.
Also at this year's CES, Ballard Power Systems and Deloitte China released a joint white paper entitled "Power Source for Future Mobile Travel: Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Transportation Solutions" (official website has a simplified Chinese version available for download), which is also the first work in a series of reports on exploring hydrogen fuel technology.
Randy, President and CEO of Ballard? Mark Ewan (Randy? MacEwen) said: "In less than ten years, fuel cell vehicles will be more cost-effective than battery electric vehicles or internal combustion engine vehicles in some commercial applications."
At present, the cost per 100 kilometers of fuel cell vehicles is higher than that of pure electric vehicles and fuel vehicles, but with the scale effect and technological improvement, it is not impossible to achieve the goal of greatly reducing costs. In fact, the white paper conservatively estimates that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of commercial hydrogen-fueled vehicles will drop by more than 50% in the next decade.
Xu Yutian, financial consulting director of Deloitte China, pointed out: "For many commercial operators, hydrogen fuel technology seems to be very complicated and expensive. ? However, through our in-depth research and model verification, in the short and medium term, fuel cell vehicles will achieve lower total ownership costs and operating costs than pure electric vehicles and fuel vehicles. We have seen that advanced operators around the world have begun to invest in the development of this technology, thus standing out from the fierce competition. "
Mai Allen, a financial consulting partner of Deloitte China, explained: "In China, the TCO of pure electric vehicles is close to that of fuel vehicles. It is estimated that the TCO of fuel cell commercial vehicles will be lower than that of fuel vehicles before 2027 and lower than that of pure electric vehicles in 2028. As the cost of fuel cell system and hydrogen fuel is reduced by 60% to 70%, the TCO of fuel cell vehicles will be lower than other vehicles. "
Keith Lin, Financial Consulting Director of Deloitte China, said: "By focusing on developing renewable energy, China has become one of the largest hydrogen energy markets and the largest hydrogen producer in the world. In the past few years, China has vigorously promoted the development of hydrogen fuel cell automobile industry, further promoted the maturity of technology, reduced the cost of hydrogen production, and took the lead in realizing the application of hydrogen energy in various fields. At present, China has led the world in some fuel cell commercial vehicles, especially in medium-sized trucks and buses. "
In fact, hydrogen fuel cells can be used not only in trucks that are big, heavy and have to run long distances, but also in drones. Doosan mobike Innovation Company from South Korea demonstrated a long-endurance fuel cell UAV and won the CES Innovation Award.
The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Doosan Group of Korea, which was established on 20 16. It is committed to developing unmanned aerial vehicles, forklifts, construction machinery and other movable equipment for portable fuel cell systems.
Its DS30 commercial UAV adopts a compact and lightweight hydrogen fuel cell system developed by itself, claiming that the energy density is at least three times that of a pure battery, and the flight running time can reach two hours. At least from the data point of view, hydrogen fuel cells have indeed solved the biggest pain point in the field of small drones. (Articles and pictures: Forbes, Morningstar, Deloitte, Author: Allen? Ohnsman、PR？ News line)
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.