With the arrival of winter, electric vehicle owners are beginning to face problems. Many owners complain that the battery life of their electric vehicles has been greatly reduced, the battery is not fully charged, and the power drops very quickly. The nominal battery life is directly hit 6 If the heater is turned on, the power loss will be obvious. The original NEDC battery life of 500KM is good if it can run 250KM. Coupled with the charging time of up to 1 hour, many car owners joke that electric cars become "electric dads" when winter comes.
So are there alternatives to electric vehicles? Toyota provides the answer with hydrogen fuel vehicles.
As early as 1992, Toyota began research on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. It was not until 20 years later, in 2014, that the first generation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles "Mirai", which Toyota had been working on for 20 years, was launched in Japan. World premiere. "Mirai" means the future, which shows that Toyota believes that this car is the car that represents the future. This car has sold 10,000 units worldwide.
Last year, Toyota launched the second-generation Mirai. This car is built on the same platform as the Lexus LS, but the price is much cheaper than the LS. In terms of power, it can output a maximum power of 134kW (182PS) and The peak torque is 300N·m, and the top speed reaches 175km/h. This car is divided into two endurance versions. The high endurance version can be charged with hydrogen in three minutes and has a endurance of 850KM. In addition, this car can also be connected to household appliances to output a power output of up to 9000W. Simply speaking, it can load 2-3 air conditioners.
Mirai is currently on the market in the United States and Japan. Regarding hydrogen energy vehicles, there are many doubts and misunderstandings on the Internet. Today we will use Toyota Mirai to talk about whether hydrogen fuel vehicles are the future. .
How much does Mirai cost?
The second-generation Mirai was first launched in Japan and the United States, and will be sold globally in the future. Many people are concerned about the price of hydrogen fuel vehicles. In fact, the official price of the second-generation Mirai is relatively high. In Japan, it is 7.10-8.05 million yen (equivalent to RMB 445,000-505,000), but the Japanese government provides this car with tax reductions for environmentally friendly vehicles, environmental performance discounts, greening subsidies and CEV subsidies. The combined price after subsidies is 360,500-420,600. , the price in the United States is US$49,500-66,000 (equivalent to RMB 323,000-431,000). Many people think the price is still high, but you must know that this car is built on the same platform as the Lexus LS. The length, width and height of this car are 4975/1885/1470 mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2920 mm. It is a medium to large car. Its price is still a little lower than that of Lexus LS. And judging from the appearance and interior, Mirai is a model with a strong sense of luxury.
In addition, you can also choose to rent this car in the United States. The monthly rental price for the entry-level model starts at US$499 (3,260 yuan). In addition, users who buy and rent cars can receive free hydrogen fuel for six years or a cash subsidy of US$15,000 (98,000 yuan). If you choose a cash subsidy, it is equivalent to buying such a medium-to-large hydrogen fuel vehicle for a bare car price of 225,000 yuan. This price can be said to be quite conscientious.
Where to refuel?
So many people will ask, where can I refuel the car I bought? In fact, hydrogenation is relatively convenient throughout Japan and on the west coast of the United States. Japan has more than 133 hydrogen refueling stations in all major cities across the country, ranking first in the world in number, while the United States has 87 hydrogen refueling stations, and as of November this year, China has built 104 hydrogen refueling stations. ranks second in the world, surpassing Germany. According to the "White Paper on China's Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Industry", China will build 200 hydrogenation stations in 2025, and by 2050, the number of hydrogenation stations will exceed 10,000.
How much does it cost to drive a hydrogen fuel car?
Is the cost of using hydrogen fuel vehicles high? Toyota Mirai has three hydrogen storage tanks, which can hold 5.6kg of hydrogen per day. According to the latest data, the current price of hydrogen fuel in Japan is 71 yuan per kilogram, and the cost per kilometer is about 0.46 yuan, which is basically the same as Domestic gasoline vehicles are almost the same. And it is cheaper to use than gasoline cars in Japan, because the price of gasoline in Japan is currently as high as 130.8 yen, equivalent to 8.2 yuan, which is almost 50 more expensive than domestic oil prices. Driving a hydrogen fuel car in Japan is better than driving a gasoline car. Cheaper.
In addition, Toyota provides three years of free maintenance and a 10-year, 240,000-kilometer free warranty for the Mirai in the United States. It provides a five-year, 100,000-kilometer free warranty for the Mirai in Japan, which is very similar to Lexus. In terms of cost of use, driving a Mirai in Japan is more cost-effective than a fuel vehicle.
Is hydrogen energy safe?
The safety of hydrogen is also a very controversial issue. Many people say that hydrogen-fueled cars are small hydrogen bombs, while others say that hydrogen is unstable and easy to explode. In fact, these are just anti-intellectual remarks. If the hydrogen bomb is so simple, why is India still struggling to research it?
In fact, hydrogen is safer than gasoline in open areas. The first reason is that the hydrogen on Mirai is stored in hydrogen storage tanks made of carbon fiber and Kevlar. This kind of hydrogen storage tank can withstand pistol bullets, and the hydrogen inside is difficult to escape. The second point is that this car has relatively complete safety measures. If the vehicle catches fire, the check valve-type fusible plug pressure relief valve will quickly discharge hydrogen. The third point is that the density of hydrogen is low. It dissipates faster, will not deposit, and is not easy to form explosive aerosol. Once leaked, it will rise immediately. As long as the ventilation is good, it will generally not explode. And its leakage energy and explosion equivalent are low. The explosion energy of hydrogen is the lowest among common gases, only 1/22 of gasoline gas.
A laboratory in Japan once conducted a "fire" experiment to test the safety of gasoline vehicles in the event of oil leakage and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the event of air leakage. The gasoline vehicle quickly burned violently. Hydrogen burns above the roof of the car and will not burn the vehicle. Moreover, the flame goes out after a minute and a half, which is enough to show the safety of hydrogen.
Toyota’s hydrogen fuel car has been launched in the United States. You must know that Americans are the most life-saving. Buick GL8 is banned from sale, and Volkswagen does not dare to reduce its distribution in the United States. If the safety is poor, Mirai may get Marketing authorization?
Where does hydrogen come from?
So where does this hydrogen come from? Do we have to spend electricity to produce hydrogen and then convert the hydrogen into electricity? Is it unnecessary to take off our pants and fart? In fact, there are many sources of hydrogen.
The first is industrial by-products. my country's coking enterprises, steel plants and chlor-alkali industry produce millions of tons of hydrogen by-product every year. The second is to produce hydrogen from renewable energy sources, such as using solar energy, wind power, and hydropower to produce hydrogen. Because the electric energy in the trough period cannot be used up, it will be lost if it is not used. It is better to use it to produce hydrogen to save this energy. The third is to use chemical energy to produce hydrogen, such as coal and natural gas cracking to produce hydrogen. The cost of this hydrogen production method is not high.
Hydrogen fuel vehicles are so good, why don’t other car companies make them?
Currently, only Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and BMW are developing hydrogen fuel vehicles. Why don’t other car companies follow suit?
Originally, it was too difficult to develop this thing. It took Toyota 20 years to make the current Mirai. The development of hydrogen fuel vehicles is equivalent to changing the track. The previous development of fuel vehicles and electric vehicles Technology accumulation has basically become waste paper. For many car companies, firstly, the cost of capital is too high, and secondly, large companies are often slow to turn around.
Japan is very worried, because 90% of its oil needs depend on imports. Under such circumstances, the development of new energy has become inevitable, and Japan is surrounded by sea, and the most important thing is water resources. . It is under such circumstances that Japan began research on hydrogen fuel vehicles nearly 30 years ago.
What are the obstacles to the development of hydrogen fuel vehicles?
At present, the biggest obstacle to the popularization of hydrogen fuel vehicles is not safety, hydrogen production cost, or usage cost, but the transportation and storage of hydrogen. This is the reason why hydrogen fuel has not been popularized on a large scale. The most important reason.
At present, there are three main ways to transport hydrogen: high-pressure gas tanks, liquid tanks and solid tanks. However, this method either has a limited number of transports or relatively high transportation costs, making it difficult to popularize on a large scale. Therefore, Japan Many hydrogen refueling stations use on-site hydrogen production and storage, and there is no transportation process. However, this will also cause the problem of high cost of building a hydrogen refueling station. Building a hydrogen refueling station weighing 200 kilograms often costs more than 10 million yuan.
But once the storage and transportation problems of hydrogen are solved, the development of hydrogen will be much smoother. As for the production cost of hydrogen and the manufacturing cost of hydrogen fuel vehicles, they will continue to decrease due to scale. According to predictions, by 2025, the price of hydrogen will drop to 28 yuan/kg.
What many people are worried about is that hydrogen requires the use of precious metal platinum as a catalyst. The current development trend of platinum catalysts is low-platinum and platinum-free routes. The platinum required for Honda's Clarity bicycle catalyst has dropped to about 10g. , future hydrogen fuel vehicles will only require 3-8 grams of platinum, which is equivalent to the amount used in diesel vehicle exhaust purification catalysts.
Although at present, hydrogen fuel vehicles still have problems such as higher manufacturing costs and fewer hydrogen refueling stations, hydrogen fuel vehicles will undoubtedly provide us with an alternative. Compared with all It is much better to put all the eggs in the electric vehicle basket, and once hydrogen fuel technology breaks through, its development potential is much higher than that of electric vehicles. In the future, electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel vehicles will be complementary, with electric vehicles used in passenger cars and fuel cells used in commercial vehicles.
my country is also quietly laying out the field of hydrogen fuel cells. According to the "White Paper on China's Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Industry" and the "13th Five-Year Plan for National Science and Technology Innovation", by 2030, my country will build 1,000 hydrogen fuel cells. The number of fuel cell vehicles in hydrogen refueling stations must reach 2 million. In 2050, more than 10,000 hydrogen refueling stations will be built. Which one of hydrogen energy and electric energy is the energy source of the future will be determined in less than 20 years. We might as well wait and see.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.