Fuel cells versus lithium-ion batteries

What are the advantages and disadvantages of fuel cells over lithium-ion batteries?" someone asked online. The following answers come from battery practitioners.

To compare advantages and disadvantages, the premise is under the same application purpose.

Fuel cell and lithium battery are compared as different and same objects, and then the comparative advantages and disadvantages of different applications can be targeted.

Different working mode: fuel cell input chemical energy, output electrical energy; Lithium battery input electric energy, output electric energy. As a result, fuel cells are energy conversion devices, while lithium batteries are energy storage devices.

The same principle of discharge: when the fuel cell and lithium battery output electricity is not a thermal process, but an isothermal and adiabatic electrochemical power supply process, so the efficiency is high.

advantage

1. When the boundary is the human society on earth, for the future energy structure adjustment, the significance of the fuel cell > : lithium-ion batteries in the fossil energy can most represent a share in one thousand two hundred, how to improve from fossil terminal useful work efficiency to consumption, and how to block a specific form of useful work and determine the corresponding primary energy structure, the key is energy conversion device (easy for people to analogy to the meaning of the industrial revolution of the steam engine) of the change, and the role of energy storage device is often to optimize energy use efficiency.

2. When the boundary is vehicles, especially vehicles on the ground, fuel cell drive is more likely than lithium battery drive to become similar to today's automobile industry: energy recovery within 3 minutes, continuous driving distance of more than 400 kilometers. Chemical reactions require an oxidant, a reducing agent (commonly known as a fuel) and a reaction site. Lithium battery cars will be expected to all three samples, and lithium battery in the oxidant, the reductant, deposit are close (current relies on hundred microns thick diaphragm) even if they don't work also has the self-discharge, and lithium battery for a life cycle tend to put a pale imitation, is not like a conventional car to each cycle will oil with dry, oil filling, so real when using travel distance theory but also in half. This is the current fuel cell vehicle effective range can reach more than 600 kilometers, while the lithium battery vehicle effective range is generally less than 100. Internal combustion engine vehicle fuel cell car is similar to natural gas, reaction sites and fuel can be physical isolation, fuel injection is a physical process, how fast can quickly - feels it, as long as the economy and recovery is a rechargeable lithium battery car energy process, namely the electrolytic reaction, the need to control or else there will be side effects occur, the fuel filling speed is restricted by the degree of technological progress.

insufficient

1. When the boundary is a portable electronic device, it is much more difficult to simplify the system integration of fuel cells due to the separation of oxidant, reducing agent and reaction site than fully integrated lithium batteries or other kinds of secondary batteries;

2. When the boundary is an uninterrupted backup of the power grid, 2ns' electronic equipment requires that fuel cells deliver separated oxidants and reductions to the battery, which is almost impossible to achieve;

Industrialization degree: fuel cell now has no product manufacturing; And lithium batteries for portable electronic devices for on-site power has formed a mass manufacturing. However, for automobile, neither of them has formed the product manufacturing industry. The common technical difficulty is how to adapt the electrochemical reaction to the large dynamic demand of the inductive load of the motor.

It is tempting to argue that the lithium battery car, because it already has a lithium battery industry, will replace the internal-combustion car more easily than the fuel cell car. The fallacy of reasoning: product development is based on customer demand. It is unheard of that the internal combustion engine for lawn mower can be upgraded to achieve automotive internal combustion engine. Experience of cognition: battery cars, since 1900, lithium battery has been the fourth wave, it seems that it will not succeed in this decade, this is a very difficult thing.

The most promising claim: fuel cell engine + lithium battery to form electric hybrid electric vehicle, can 1) improve the efficiency of 2 times; 2) zero emission of vehicles; 3) easy to reach the service life and cost; 4) get rid of the single dependence of automobile on crude oil resources.

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