Japan put its treasure behind hydrogen energy, which is actually a helpless choice.
Why do you say that? Everything has to start with the energy base.
Japan's desperate investment in hydrogen energy is actually related to the energy card neck, especially rare earth elements.
After the fishing D incident on September 2, 2065438, the Japanese trading company informed the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that China refused to supply rare earth elements, including neodymium and dysprosium, to Japanese enterprises, and just two days after the supply of these two elements stopped, Tokyo released the Chinese captain. But things have just begun. Within a year and a half after the incident, the price of rare earth elements has increased by 2000%.
What important rare earth elements can make Japan, which has always been proud, have to bow its head immediately?
It all started with a Japanese named Sagawa, who is a permanent magnet expert. Permanent magnet may sound strange to everyone, but when it comes to its use, everyone is familiar with it. We must now use it for all wind power generation and every electric car on the earth. Without it, we would be in big trouble.
We usually think that electric cars are driven by motors, but they are not. If it is driven by a motor, the speed of the wheels on both sides is different when the car turns. Motors can't solve this problem, but permanent magnets can.
In his early research on permanent magnets, Sagawa found that cobalt alone cannot make permanent magnets, but it can be made by mixing it with samarium. However, the mixing of these two elements has a disadvantage. If the temperature is too high and exceeds Curie temperature, the magnet will fail.
In order to maintain magnetism in high temperature environment, a small amount of neodymium was removed and dysprosium was added. Even at the high temperature of 3 10 degrees, magnetism still exists.
However, the events of 20 1, 2010 on September 26th made Sagawa and Japan understand that Japan needs to rely entirely on China to import dysprosium and neodymium. Once China stops supplying rare earths, Sagawa's superb technology will not help.
Since then, the Japanese government has given Sasakawa10 million dollars to remove dysprosium from magnets, so as to achieve a stable permanent magnet effect without this element. 20 13 sagawa has reduced the dysprosium content from 10% to 3%, but it will not be completely removed without dysprosium. Sagawa said that it will take several years. However, the growing demand for permanent magnets in the whole world economic market is simply a drop in the bucket.
Of course, Japan hopes to make a permanent magnet completely free of dysprosium, but researchers including Sagawa himself think this is impossible. Not only Sagawa, but also the whole world has spent 30 years looking for a substitute for this permanent magnet.
There are indications that Japan does not want to build electric cars, but has been working hard in this field for many years. It was only later that they discovered that once the technology was superb and the resource supply was broken, Japan would completely lose its leading position in global industrialization.
What makes Japan even more headache is that the only supplier of rare earth elements in these permanent magnets is China, and the Japanese know better than anyone what they did in China in the past.
Sagawa never imagined that his first generation of permanent magnet materials, cobalt and samarium, were previously supplied by Congo. Later, I found a better formula of dysprosium and neodymium, but I never thought that there was no other country to supply it except China.
It's not that Japan doesn't want to build electric cars, but it can't, because once it is started, every car built depends on China's face.
But don't worry about hydrogen energy. Japan foresees that only by taking the initiative can it guarantee its own interests. As early as the start of the hydrogen energy project, Japan has applied for 85% hydrogen energy-related patents. I intend to take advantage of the fisherman.
However, the price of hydrogen energy car is more expensive than that of Toyota nanny car, and no one wants it abroad. Even Japan only sold more than 1000 vehicles.
Japan's national luck is like this. If it hadn't been unfair in the past, it wouldn't have given up halfway.