With the steady advancement of the "dual carbon" goal, heavy trucks, mixer trucks and other engineering vehicles are expected to take the lead in realizing the transformation of hydrogen fuel cell power. Whether it is from the perspective of policy inclination or actual production and sales performance, hydrogen heavy trucks have become a key breakthrough for the large-scale promotion of fuel cell vehicles.
In the development process of my country's fuel cell vehicle market, how did hydrogen heavy trucks begin to become the "protagonist" in the promotion of hydrogen vehicles? Next, how should fuel cell companies develop their efforts? What difficulties still need to be overcome for large-scale commercial use of hydrogen energy heavy trucks? This article will conduct a systematic review.
Heavy trucks become the main battlefield for hydrogen vehicle operation
Since 2023, hydrogen-powered heavy trucks have become the main force in the current operation of hydrogen vehicles in my country. According to the "Fuel Cell Vehicle Sales" database statistics of the Advanced Hydrogen and Electricity Industry Research Institute (GGII), from January to November 2023, the domestic registered sales of fuel cell vehicles reached 5,219 units, a year-on-year increase of 39%, of which 2,644 fuel cell heavy trucks were sold, accounting for than more than 50%.
One important reason why hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks have developed rapidly compared to other vehicle types is that a number of steel and coal chemical companies and large logistics parks are using hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks.
Steel companies, coal chemical companies and large logistics parks have become the main forces responsible for the operation of hydrogen energy heavy trucks. The main reasons are as follows:
First, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has environmental protection ratings (A, B, C, D) for six major energy-consuming enterprises such as power generation, non-ferrous metals, and steel. If it is a B-category enterprise, it will not be rated from October to April of the following year. Full production is allowed, but can only be carried out at 60%; if it is a Class C enterprise, it must receive assistance and rectification; if it is a Class D enterprise, it must be eliminated and shut down. The operation of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks by such companies will help improve environmental ratings and accelerate green transformation.
Second, the application scenarios of hydrogen energy heavy trucks such as coal, coke, steel, etc. have become mature, and regions such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei have gradually formed a closed loop of application. The main driving force for the application of hydrogen heavy trucks in these scenarios is that traditional heavy-polluting enterprises are under great pressure to meet environmental protection standards, and leading enterprises basically have the need for strategic transformation. In addition, the coal, coke and steel industry has abundant transportation capacity. If the construction of hydrogenation stations is accelerated and the price of hydrogen reaches ≤25 yuan/kg, hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks will have longer battery life and lower prices, and the commercial promotion process will be further accelerated.
Third, ports and logistics bases in major cities have great potential for the application of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks. These application scenarios also have a large amount of transportation capacity. The driving force for the application of hydrogen heavy trucks is first of all new energy road rights, and driven by the carbon credit policy, the world's top 500 companies, including IKEA, Coca-Cola, etc., are accelerating carbon emission reduction actions. Under these scenarios, hydrogen energy heavy trucks have initially opened up.
Fourth, in terms of hydrogen vehicles, through financial leasing, hydrogen heavy trucks can be leased to steel and chemical companies for market-oriented operations at a price that is basically the same as that of fuel heavy trucks. When the price of hydrogen is reasonable, hydrogen heavy trucks can be operated The economy has been highlighted.
Fifth, in terms of hydrogen supply and application, such companies generally have a surplus of industrial by-product hydrogen. For example, Meijin Energy, Jinnan Iron and Steel, Hegang Group, Pengfei Group, Rongcheng Group, China Baowu and other companies have realized self-supply of hydrogen. . Due to the abundant by-product hydrogen, the hydrogen pricing of such enterprises is relatively low. For example, Shanxi industrial by-product hydrogen can achieve a nominal price of 25 yuan/kg (some enterprises can even be lower than 20 yuan/kg), which greatly reduces the price of enterprise hydrogen. Vehicle operating costs.
Under new demands, fuel cell systems are advancing to high power
From the perspective of fuel cell companies, there are still many problems that need to be solved in order for hydrogen heavy-duty trucks to achieve small batch demonstrations and wider application promotion. One of the important challenges is the increase in technical requirements brought about by power improvement.
"Due to the relatively high power requirements of heavy trucks and other engineering vehicles, from the actual use situation, the power demand of a 49-ton tractor is more than 211.5kW, the power demand of a 45-ton mixer truck is more than 200.7kW, and the power demand of a 54-ton dump truck is even more. 240.8kW or more." Dr. Wan Chaohui, general manager of Sany Hydrogen Technology, said that 200kW power demand is only the "starting price" of hydrogen engineering vehicles.
At present, the powertrain of fuel cell vehicles is composed of a fuel cell system and a power battery pack. Taking the current domestic 49-ton hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty truck as an example, its cruising range is between 300 and 450 kilometers. The power of the fuel cell system equipped with heavy trucks is mostly in the range of 60-150kW, and a lithium battery with a capacity of 60-140kWh is required as energy storage.
Generally, when a fuel cell heavy-duty truck uses a fuel cell system with a medium power of 110kW, it needs to be paired with a power battery pack greater than 100kWh. In actual use, when the vehicle starts or the load is small, the power battery works; when accelerating, going uphill or carrying a heavy load, the fuel cell and power battery work together; when cruising, the power constant load is small, only The fuel cell is required to work; when decelerating downhill and braking, the load is small, the power energy is recovered, and then the power battery pack is charged.
Lai Pinghua, deputy general manager of Hydrogen Power, told Gaogong Hydrogen that currently some small and medium-power hydrogen heavy-duty trucks cannot adapt to highway operation scenarios. These vehicles require power battery discharge compensation under rapid acceleration, hill climbing and overload conditions. The power of the fuel cell system, if it goes for a long time, will easily cause the power battery pack to run out of power, causing the heavy truck to be unable to work at high load for a long time.
In the past, limited by technology and material costs, the power of fuel cells installed in vehicles was relatively small. As the domestic fuel vehicle industry chain matures, the power of fuel cell engines is slowly approaching real market demand. Since 2023, the power of fuel cell systems is moving towards 200+kW, and will reach 300kW or even higher in the future.
In the future, as the design level, process technology and manufacturing capabilities of fuel cells will make great progress, the performance of key materials and core components of the stack will be significantly improved, and there is still room for further exploration of high-power fuel cell systems.
What difficulties still need to be overcome for large-scale commercialization?
From small batch demonstration to large-scale commercialization of fuel cells, cost performance is an unavoidable "stumbling block".
According to traffic insurance data statistics, from January to November 2023, the domestic new energy heavy truck market accumulated sales of 28,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 47%. Among them, pure electric models accounted for 89.86% of the new energy heavy truck market, which was the same as last year. The proportion was basically the same, with fuel cell heavy trucks accounting for 9.30%, an increase of 0.44 percentage points from last year.
Compared with pure electric models that are also new energy heavy trucks, there is a gap of nearly 10 times between hydrogen heavy trucks. If hydrogen energy heavy trucks are to be promoted on a large scale, they must compete economically with fuel heavy trucks and pure electric heavy trucks in the market. To change these, we need to accelerate the continuous cost reduction of the industrial chain, and at the same time solve the problems of expensive fuel cell vehicles, expensive hydrogen and difficulty in hydrogenation from the business model.
From the perspective of fuel cell cost reduction and efficiency improvement, Dr. Ouyang Xun, chairman of Hydrogen Power, gave his own thoughts. In his opinion, the development trend of heavy truck stack technology is as follows: high power (300kW+), long life (30,000 hours) +), high performance (>4.5kW/L), low cost (<600 yuan/kW).
As a leading and representative company in fuel cell stacks, Hydrogen has been focusing on reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In early 2023, it officially released the 300kW HV series graphite plate stack. It is currently further optimizing the design on this basis. Plans A HV Plus version with better performance and lower cost will be launched in 2024.
From the perspective of business model, Dr. Wan Chaohui shared the "three-stage" development theory of Sany Hydrogen Technology's hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty truck development. In the initial stage, by reducing the cost of the fuel cell system, the rated power of the vehicle fuel cell system was increased to 220kW and the lithium battery was reduced to less than 60kWh, thereby reducing the vehicle cost to about 800,000.
At this time, hydrogen energy heavy trucks should choose to start demonstration operations in areas where the hydrogen price is 10-20 yuan/kg, such as steel mills, coal mines and other areas with abundant and cheap by-product hydrogen. Hydrogen refueling stations are set up at these hydrogen usage scenarios. When the hydrogen consumption of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks drops to 12kg/100 kilometers under highway conditions, they can be as economical as pure electric heavy trucks.
In the development stage, the commercialization of hydrogen heavy trucks will reach the scale of 1,000 units. The rated power of the hydrogen heavy truck fuel cell system will be increased to 260kW, and the lithium battery will be reduced to 40-50kWh. The cost of the entire vehicle will be reduced to 600,000. At this time, you can choose to operate in areas where hydrogen costs 20-30 yuan/kg, and the range of operating scenarios for hydrogen heavy trucks will expand.
In the mature stage, after further development, the rated power of the hydrogen heavy truck fuel cell system has been increased to 300kW, and the lithium battery has been reduced to 20-30kWh, and the cost of the hydrogen heavy truck has been reduced to 400,000. At this time, the operation scenario of hydrogen energy heavy trucks can be areas where the cost of hydrogen is ≥30 yuan/kg. When large-scale hydrogen consumption scenarios emerge, green hydrogen and pipeline hydrogen transmission will become economical, and hydrogen refueling stations can be fully deployed.
At present, Sany Hydrogen Energy Technology has taken the first step in pursuing cost-effectiveness. Five hydrogen fuel cell mixer trucks have been in normal operation for more than July, with an average mileage of 25,200km.