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Although the overall development process of domestic fuel cell industry is temporarily lagging behind that of foreign countries, the development strategy of many industrial links has led to the development speed of domestic fuel cell industry far exceeding that of foreign countries, and it is expected to catch up in a relatively short period of time.

Faced with the bottleneck of life, price, infrastructure, and lack of industrial policies and standards in the current development of fuel cell industrialization in China, substantive improvements have been achieved through segmented technology and policy measures, and the concept of "super factory" has been proposed to promote the development of fuel cell industrialization in China.

What is hydrogen energy and fuel cells?

Simply put, fuel cells are energy conversion devices, similar to internal combustion engines, that convert one type of energy into another. Fuel cells are electrochemical conversion devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy.

This device has many unique features, such as efficient cleaning, high power (up to a power density of 3.1 kW per liter), no noise, and fast inflation (three minutes of inflation can drive a car 500-700 kilometers), making it an ideal energy conversion device.

Taking battery technology as a reference, fuel cell technology is more complex, involving a complete set of systems including stacks. For example, the difficulty of fuel cell technology lies in the need to connect hydrogen gas to the fuel cell, air to the fuel cell through an air compressor to generate electricity, and then convert the voltage of the obtained electricity to the required voltage through a DCDC device.

As an energy conversion device, fuel cells have the same functions as internal combustion engines, which determines their wide range of applications. Almost all areas where internal combustion engines can play a role can be replaced by fuel cells. For example, energy transportation, power generation, households, mobile power sources, communication base stations and space technology, special industries, medical fields, etc.

Among numerous application fields, the application of transportation is particularly important. As early as 2000, Ford CEO Ford Jr. asserted that fuel cells would end the century long rule of internal combustion engines. In fact, not only Ford, but also major global automotive companies almost all agree with this viewpoint.

KPMG, a consulting firm in the United States, conducted a survey of global automotive executives, and the results showed that in 2018, global automotive executives unanimously believed that fuel cell vehicles were the mainstream of today's development, while electric vehicles fell to fifth place in 2018.

By comparing the economic performance of electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, we can find that the obvious feature is that electric vehicles have advantages in the field of short distance and small cars, but in the field of long distance and large cars, fuel cells will have more advantages. Basically, if the range exceeds 100km, fuel cell vehicles will be in an advantageous position.

Comparison of the Development Process of Fuel Cell Vehicles at Home and Abroad

At present, the world is accelerating the development and promotion of fuel cell vehicle models, but there are certain differences in the industrial development process between domestic and foreign countries.

Overall, the development of fuel cell vehicles in foreign countries has basically completed five stages: "technical verification/user recognition - cost reduction - performance improvement - market introduction - large-scale manufacturing". A representative example is the Mirai launched by Toyota in Japan in 2015, marking the successful commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. Therefore, 2015 is also considered the first year of fuel cell vehicle industrialization.

On the other hand, in China, fuel cell vehicle technology is relatively lagging behind foreign countries, and most models are still in the research stage. Compared to the five major development stages mentioned above, they are basically in the technical verification stage, and there is a significant gap compared to foreign countries.

However, it is worth noting that in the past few years, the domestic fuel cell industry has developed rapidly, and different industries and companies have used different methods to continuously make technological breakthroughs. Although the industry as a whole has been classified as a technology validation stage, the actual user recognition, cost reduction, market introduction and other aspects are advancing synchronously, with the hope of catching up with advanced foreign technologies in a relatively short period of time.

Four major bottlenecks and corresponding strategies for the industrialization of hydrogen energy and fuel cells

Overall, current fuel cell technologies, including peak efficiency, system energy density, and low-temperature start-up, have basically reached commercial standards. However, there is still a certain gap between the lifespan and price of fuel cells and current expectations, coupled with the lack of infrastructure construction, industrial policies and standards, which comprehensively limit the industrialization development of hydrogen energy and fuel cells.

The first thing to bear the brunt is the price. From a trend perspective, in the past few years, fuel cell prices have been continuously decreasing through technological innovation. From 2016 to now, fuel cell prices have basically decreased by 60% compared to the past 10 years.

Assuming that the production and sales of fuel cell vehicles exceed 1000 in 2019, the price of fuel cells will be approximately $230/kW. If the annual production capacity reaches 100000 vehicles, the price of fuel cells can be reduced by $50/kW. Obviously, with the advancement of technology, prices will be very close to our ultimate goal.

According to the previous plan of the United States Department of Energy, based on 500000 fuel cell vehicles per year, the price of fuel cell system in 2017 is 45 dollars/kW, and it is expected that the price of fuel cell system will reach 40 dollars/kW in 2025, and the final goal of marketing is 30 dollars/kW.

This requires us to research and develop key components of the entire fuel cell system to reduce prices. For example, when the price of the air compressor decreases, the price of the entire system can decrease by about $3; The use of non platinum catalysts can further reduce the price of fuel cells by $5; The reduction in the price of dual boards will also lead to a $3 reduction in the overall system price.

As for the issue of lifespan, we hope that the fuel cell can maintain an operating lifespan of at least 5000 hours. The data from 2015 to 2017 shows that the operating life of fuel cell vehicles can basically reach over 4000 hours, and the laboratory has reached 10000 hours, far exceeding the lifespan requirements.

To solve the lifespan problem, it is necessary to understand the reasons that affect the lifespan of fuel cells. In the past few decades of research, we have successfully revealed the basic mechanism of fuel cell lifespan decay.

During the operation of fuel cells, proton exchange membranes become thinner, leading to mechanical problems such as pinholes and tears. The decay of proton exchange membranes caused by chemical, electrochemical, and thermal stability factors is an important factor affecting the lifespan of fuel cells.

The decrease in catalyst activity can also affect the lifespan of fuel cells. During the operation of fuel cells, catalysts may agglomerate and re deposit, leading to catalyst loss. Air pollution not only affects catalyst activity but also affects the lifespan of fuel cells.

※ Gas diffusion can also have an impact on the lifespan of fuel cells. The rapid water material in the gas diffusion layer will slowly lose, causing surface changes and ultimately affecting the lifespan of fuel cells.

The corrosion of the bipolar plate during the operation of the fuel cell can also affect the lifespan of the fuel cell.

Targeted response strategies can be developed to address these mechanisms, effectively promoting the improvement of fuel cell lifespan and meeting the requirements for vehicle lifespan.

In terms of proton exchange membranes, enhanced membranes can be used to enhance their mechanical properties and extend their service life; Adding free radicals to the proton exchange membrane can ensure that the membrane will not degrade, and strengthening thermal decomposition can also reduce the number of free radicals, ensuring that the proton exchange membrane has sufficient lifespan. During the operation of fuel cells, a large number of free radicals are always generated, which attack the membrane material, causing it to gradually lose and thin, affecting the membrane life

At the catalyst level, supports with high specific surface area, anti reaction catalysts, and oxidation supports can be used. Chemical filters can be used to ensure that hydrogen and air are clean and free from pollution, ensuring that the activity of the catalyst does not decrease throughout its entire life cycle.

Bipolar plates require anti-corrosion coatings to increase their lifespan.

Another major influencing factor is the issue of hydrogen fuel and hydrogen facilities. The issues related to hydrogen fuel and facilities mainly include hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and transportation, and hydrogen refueling, which is a very large problem in China and requires us to spend more energy to solve.

Fuel cells use hydrogen, so where does hydrogen come from? There are many methods for hydrogen production at present, and a large amount of hydrogen in the market comes from natural gas. Its price can be basically less than $2/kg, meeting the basic price requirements for hydrogen as a fuel.

But in the future development process, the main source of hydrogen needs to gradually transition to producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy, which can make the price of hydrogen cheaper. Overall, the current price of hydrogen is still relatively high, and improvements are needed to continue emphasizing the reduction of hydrogen production costs.

Super Factory Solution

Considering the current bottlenecks in fuel cell technology and industrialization, we have taken corresponding measures. By conducting basic research to improve the efficiency of fuel cell devices, while developing key materials and technologies, we aim to achieve the localization of materials and technologies as soon as possible, reduce the price of fuel cells, and design integrated solutions for materials, stacks, and systems.

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