Fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery cars: Technology is not a problem, price is a problem

According to the working temperature, fuel processing method, and electrolyte type, fuel-powered lithium batteries can be divided into different types. At present, the main application in the automotive field is proton exchange membrane fuel-powered lithium batteries, which produce electricity through electrochemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen in the air. The only working product is water, so it is an efficient and clean power device. As long as the fuel is continuously supplied, the fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery will continue to generate electricity. In this regard, it is similar to the internal combustion engine that can continuously generate power as long as there is fuel supply. Therefore, the fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery used for automotive power is also called "fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery engine".

Fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery car research and development forms two echelons

In recent years, the key technical bottlenecks faced by the development and application of fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery cars, such as cost, starting performance, hydrogen production and storage, have been continuously broken through, and have begun to enter the industrialization stage.

In terms of fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery cars, two major echelons have been basically formed internationally. The first echelon is led by Toyota, and also includes multinational automobile companies such as Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors. They all have plans to industrialize fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicles before 2020. Among the second-tier automobile companies, SAIC Group's technical level is currently at the forefront.

Toyota's latest fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery sedan Mirai (meaning "future" in Japanese) is equipped with a fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery system with a total power of 114 kilowatts. It uses a 70 MPa high-pressure hydrogen tank, which can be filled with hydrogen in 3 minutes and has a driving range of 700 kilometers. In terms of hydrogen safety, Mirai uses a special material shell to enable the hydrogen tank to withstand light attacks. In addition, the hydrogen storage tank has passed very strict local fire tests and impact and drop tests. The fire resistance and drop resistance meet the requirements of the global technical rules for high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks, ensuring the safety of hydrogen storage. In terms of low-temperature cold start, a series of technical difficulties have been overcome, and the start-up at minus 30°C has been successfully achieved. In terms of cost control, compared with Toyota FCHV-adv in 2008, Mirai's cost has dropped by 95%. In 2015, the price of Mirai was 7.236 million yen (about 420,000 yuan), and the actual price in Japan after enjoying government subsidies was about 5.2 million yen (about 270,000 yuan). In summary, with the world-leading level represented by Mirai, whether in terms of low-temperature starting performance, safety, driving range, or vehicle cost control, fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicles are fully capable of competing with traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

South Korea's Hyundai also announced its first fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicle ix35 in 2013. The vehicle has passed tests under various environmental conditions and is currently sold on a lease basis.

Audi announced the fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicle A7 Sportback h-tron in 2014. The vehicle has a driving range of more than 500km and a maximum output power of 170kW.

In January 2013, Nissan, Daimler and Ford announced the joint development of a new fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery system and accelerated the marketization of fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicles in the next decade. Daimler recently said that it expects to launch competitively priced fuel cell AAA rechargeable battery vehicles on the market in 2017.

In China, during the "Innovation Journey - New Energy Vehicles Thousand Miles" event held in September 2014, the fuel cell AAA rechargeable battery vehicle Roewe 750 independently developed by SAIC successfully challenged the humid coastal areas, extremely cold plateaus, hot and humid southern areas, and dry northern climate environments, fully testing its environmental adaptability, but there is still a certain gap from successfully entering the market.

Serious lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure construction

Similar to the charging infrastructure problems faced by battery electric vehicles, the development of fuel cell AAA rechargeable battery vehicles also faces a serious shortage of hydrogen refueling station infrastructure. According to statistics, the global construction of hydrogen refueling stations entered a new stage in 2015, with 54 new hydrogen refueling stations. As of January 2016, there were 214 hydrogen refueling stations in operation worldwide.

However, there is a large gap between my country and foreign countries in the construction and standards and regulations of hydrogen refueling stations. There are currently only two hydrogen refueling stations in operation in China: one is located in Jiading, Shanghai, which supplies hydrogen refueling services for some of SAIC's fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicles; the other is located in Yongfeng Industrial Base in northwest Beijing, which supplies hydrogen refueling services for fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery buses.

However, compared with electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the construction of hydrogen refueling facilities is more similar to the construction of traditional gas stations. There is no need to consider issues such as the number of parking spaces, community power distribution transformation, and grid pressure. At the same time, it has higher convenience and environmental benefits.

In terms of the source of hydrogen, there are multiple routes to choose from. At present, there are several important hydrogen production routes:

1. In large central plants, steam reforming natural gas to produce hydrogen, and then transporting it in the form of liquid hydrogen by trailer, or using pipelines to transport hydrogen to automobile hydrogen stations;

2. Hydrogen by-products of synthetic ammonia plants and other departments of the petroleum refining industry, which is also a more suitable source of hydrogen for my country at this stage;

3. At the hydrogen station site, using natural gas transported by pipeline, a small-scale steam reforming is used to produce hydrogen;

4. At the hydrogen station site, water is electrolyzed to produce hydrogen, and the source of electricity can be diversified. Clean energy such as wind power and solar energy can be used to achieve zero emissions in the hydrogen production process, which is also the ultimate development direction of hydrogen production technology in the future.

Commercialization faces the test of cost and life are two hurdles

The problem of balancing low cost and long life faced by fuel-powered lithium batteries is still a bottleneck restricting the large-scale commercialization of fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery vehicles.

Regarding the cost issue, the US Department of Energy's project plan clearly pointed out that by 2020, the cost of automotive fuel-powered AAA rechargeable battery systems will drop to US$40/kW. According to a document released by the U.S. Department of Energy in December 2015, if 500,000 sets of passenger car fuel power AAA rechargeable battery systems with a rated power of 80kW are mass-produced at this stage, the cost can be controlled at US$54.84/kW, and is gradually approaching the commercialization target of US$40/kW.

Regarding the lifespan issue, the U.S. Department of Energy's project planning and my country's "Made in my country 2025" both clearly point out that the service life of automotive fuel power AAA rechargeable battery stacks will reach 5,000 hours in 2020.

Therefore, reducing the manufacturing cost of fuel power AAA rechargeable battery systems and improving the durability of fuel power AAA rechargeable battery stacks are still the key research directions in the commercialization process of fuel power AAA rechargeable battery vehicles.

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