Crude oil can continue to be used for 50 years, and coal can continue to be used for 200 years, but these are not available in Japan. Japan can also choose natural gas, such as methane fuel cells, but in the end, the Japanese also gave up, for the simple reason that most of the standards for natural gas fuel cells are not in the hands of the Japanese.
Hydrogen energy seems to be the most practical. First, the United States began to promote its hydrogen energy program to its allies in 2002, so Japan and South Korea also joined in. Second, Japan has the most patents on hydrogen energy. Although the scale of hydrogen energy in China is not the largest, its use efficiency is the highest.
Then, Japan successively issued Japan's revival strategy, basic energy plan and strategic development roadmap of hydrogen energy/fuel cell. NEDO released a white paper on hydrogen energy, which officially designated hydrogen energy as the third pillar of domestic power generation. If we take a path on hydrogen energy, the energy problem that Japan has been troubled for many years will be completely solved. At least it seems that way.
Although hydrogen energy is regarded as a standard by Japan and South Korea, the United States, the initiator, does not pay much attention to it in essence. Hydrogen energy is just one of many options for the United States in the future. Faced with such a country with abundant materials and technologies, hydrogen energy, shale gas, oil, nuclear energy and pure electricity may become choices at any time, so Japan and South Korea can only rely on themselves on the road of developing hydrogen energy.
The Japanese hope to surpass the United States in hydrogen energy like cars.
Based on this, Toyota and Honda invested a lot of money in the research and development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and launched FCV-Mirai and FCEV-Clarity respectively. Among them? Mirai is a hydrogen-fueled vehicle, while Clarity is a series of hydrogen, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles launched by Honda. (Now the electric plan stops, and hydrogen energy and plug-in hybrid continue).
In 20 14, Toyota exhibited Mirai, the world's first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle, to the world for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This name representing the future shows the world that Toyota has the technology of mass production of hydrogen fuel. Now the time has reached 2020, and this troubled year will surely become an unforgettable node in Toyota's history.
During the period of 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was signed in Tokyo, Japan, and Toyota decided to promote its latest hybrid Prius to the heads of 84 countries around the world. This is specially prepared by Toyota for Kyoto Protocol, which is almost impossible for Toyota engineers.
In 2020, at the Olympic Games originally held in Tokyo, Japan, Toyota decided to release its brand-new second-generation fuel cell vehicle Mirai, so that tourists and politicians from all over the world can appreciate the excellent performance and advantages of hydrogen energy vehicles. This was originally Toyota's wishful thinking, but the Olympic Games were postponed.
If the first generation of Mirai is just a masterpiece of Toyota's mass production technology, then the positioning of the first generation of Mirai is easy to understand-it should be distinctive enough, amazing enough and expensive enough.
In September 2020, Toyota Mirai was only sold in a few places around the world. In the past six years, only 1 1 000 vehicles have been sold, which is already a remarkable achievement, even though most of them were delivered to taxi companies.
The first generation of Mirai is actually a particularly contradictory individual.
The price of the first generation Mirai is as high as 57,500 dollars, which is an unusual price, but what you get is a car with 9.4 seconds acceleration, extremely simple interior and compact body size.
Toyota has a completely different understanding of the positioning of the first Mirai than Tesla. In Tesla's view, Toyota's first FCV should give full play to the advantages of hydrogen energy vehicles, and then make a model with extreme performance. For example, compared with electric vehicles, FCV only needs 5 minutes to fill up with hydrogen, but it can travel thousands of kilometers or faster, and then continue to reduce costs and introduce entry-level models, which will gradually be accepted by consumers.
But in reality, neither Toyota nor Honda chose Tesla's route.
FCV Mirai can almost be regarded as a replica of Prius. Even if the hybrid car has the ability to push the performance of the car to a new height, the Prius refuses to do so. When it was first born, it mainly emphasized its economic orientation of energy saving and environmental protection.
The first generation Mirai used front-wheel drive, and the interior almost copied the Prius family design, with no features, so that many customers who drove Mirai for the first time said that it was a car that was particularly like Camry.
However, Toyota said that Mirai has not made any progress in the past six years. Toyota has been hoping to further reduce the price in Mirai, at least as much as the current Crown. In this way, Mirai may have the opportunity to gradually penetrate the market with the relevant subsidies from the US government and the Japanese government.
In 2020, Toyota officially announced the second generation Mirai. With the postponement of the Olympic Games, Toyota will have more time to polish this car in the coming year. The second generation Mirai is cheaper, better looking and more efficient. In addition to the limited supply of hydrogen, Toyota FCV has taken a big step towards practicality in the past six years.
The new Mirai no longer looks like the Prius. Toyota has gradually moved its design and positioning closer to the high-end brand Lexus. This is because this generation, Mirai began to share the platform with Lexus.
The reason for this is that Toyota realized that the first generation of Mirai, although technically experienced, was not exciting and luxurious as a whole, and consumers' response was mediocre, and their desire for consumption was not stimulated.
To make the second generation Mirai look more emotional? Design), Toyota modified the eccentric vertical air intake of the first-generation Mirai and adopted the whole larger front grille. At this point, fuel cell vehicles are different from pure electric vehicles, and fuel cells need to constantly obtain outside air, so this grille is still needed.
The size of the car body has been greatly adjusted, the car body has been lengthened by six inches, and the width has also increased. The increased space gives the car better leg space and brings better comfort. The interior was changed from Toyota to Lexus.
The greater change comes from Toyota's boring driving sense, so on the second-generation Mirai, Toyota was born out of Lexus rear-drive platform, and the rear suspension adopted multi-link suspension. Similar to the pure electric vehicle, the hydrogen tank is installed on the T-beam, with a lower center of gravity, a stronger body and a front-to-rear weight ratio of 50:50.
However, based on the fact that hydrogen fuel cells are still not friendly enough, perhaps Mirai should think about how to face the competition of pure electric vehicles. Whether it is power or endurance, Toyota says that Mirai has improved its acceleration performance, but there is still a long way to go to reach the level of motor.
Therefore, the second generation Mirai focuses on space and battery life, while the first generation Mirai? 1 14kW hydrogen fuel cell group initially occupied 33L of the whole vehicle and filled the whole engine compartment. The size of the second generation Mirai is reduced by 9L, the efficiency is improved by 10%, and the power reaches 128kW.
By reducing the volume of the fuel cell stack, a larger hydrogen tank can be installed. Mirai has two hydrogen tanks, one under the back seat and the other under the trunk floor. 4.6? kg？ Increase to? 5.6? Kg, combined with the new fuel cell system, the cruising range has increased by 30%. If you drive gently, in theory, New Mirai can run 650 kilometers.
The retail price of new Mirai will be 20% lower than before, that is, the price will be reduced to about $50,000. Limited by the supply of hydrogen, the market performance of the second generation Mirai is still not optimistic. However, in this car, we can see the Japanese car's thinking about the hydrogen energy society.
Mirai has an advantage over pure electric vehicles in the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection, because it is actually not a zero-emission vehicle, but a negative emission. According to Toyota, Mirai will actively filter air through fuel cells to remove 65,438+000% of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. Mirai screen can even show how much air used by adults is purified while driving, just like a mobile air purifier.
The year 2020 is very important not only for Toyota Mirai, but also for Japan. This year is the most crucial year for Japan to sell hydrogen fuel overseas. In the 2020 Olympic Games, Japan hopes to show the world a better hydrogen energy society. The Olympic flame, the hydrogen-powered Olympic Village and the hydrogen fuel cell bus are ready to stand by.
However, the establishment of Japan Hydrogen Energy Society met with a strong opponent, how to face the menacing pure electric vehicle. Because of its obsession with hydrogen fuel vehicles, Toyota has now given the electric vehicle market to other car manufacturers. At present, Toyota has no ability to manufacture small hydrogen-fueled vehicles. In the face of these competitions, Toyota still puts hydrogen-fueled vehicles in a more important position and introduces pure electric vehicles in small cars at the right time.
In Toyota's planning, urban transportation is temporarily replaced by pure electric vehicles (mainly overseas, mainly hybrid in Japan), and long-distance trucks and trucks use hydrogen fuel cells.
However, nobody knows what will happen in the future. Even the powerful Toyota is not sure that it can sell 654.38 million+Mirai in the future, because the sales of FCV are seriously limited by the number of hydrogen stations and facilities. Although Toyota has not given up hydrogen fuel cells, when will the world be ready to take over FCV?
Figure? |? From the network
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.