China's 100 Billion Foam Fuel Cell?

For the domestic new energy car industry, 2018 is destined to be the year of the explosion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The twin stimuli of policy and capital have made the technology of this vast majority of people confused and quickly became synonymous with the wind.

Almost all the manufacturers related to the new energy automobile industry chain are trying to get into this storm. In addition, in the past two years, the state’s subsidy policy for new energy vehicles has been adjusted several times. The subsidies for plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles have been greatly reduced, while the subsidies for hydrogen fuel cells have not shrunk, and the company’s profitability once again Helping the tide of investment surge.

In the past five years, people have habitually learned to forget. The collapse of each industry bubble can always be replaced by new wind mouth vision, and it continues. Investment agencies that are afraid of missing out on the big Mac and those that follow the industry's hot spots are tied together, betting hard on current industrial changes with real money and silver, but rarely care about the future.

Toyota has been grinding a sword for ten years, and its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be mass-produced in fashion. What is the strength of Chinese car companies?

A toppled domino

The past year has been known as the "first year of hydrogen fuel cell cars."

Public data show that by the end of 2017, the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles commercialized in China exceeded 1,000, and more than 200 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were used for demonstration operations, which means that only about 800 vehicles were actually put into commercial use.

Comparing another group of statistics from third-party authorities, from 2013 to the end of 2017, a total of 6,475 hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles were sold worldwide, of which Toyota accounted for more than 75 % of sales. At present, there are only three car companies in the world that can industrialize hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In addition to Toyota, the other two are South Korea Hyundai and Japan Honda.

While Toyota has a clean slate in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, that has not in any way affected the ambitions of Chinese companies.

Professor of the Institute of Nuclear Energy and New Energy Technology at Tsinghua University, Vice Chairman of the International Hydrogen Energy Association, and Chief Scientist of China's first national 973 hydrogen energy project, Maozongqiang, according to public data from the Internet, the domestic hydrogen fuel cell investment project in 2017 alone (put into production by 2020) has reached more than 100 billion yuan. The production capacity is 170,000 hydrogen fuel cell engines.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars have been heating up at home since the premier's visit to Japan in May and are now a step away from boiling point.

Recently, Guangdong Province issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Innovation and Development of the New Energy Vehicle Industry" document, vigorously promoted the industrialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and divided its work into various departments of the provincial government, requiring the construction of industrial bases and commercial operation demonstration areas.

It is worth noting that prior to this, local governments such as Shanghai, Suzhou, Foshan and Wuhan have issued relevant documents. In addition, according to the "Shanghai Securities Daily" report, Datong, Qingdao, Yangzhou and other places are also planning to support the development of hydrogen fuel cells.

All the policy moves, like the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, are as neat as the mass gymnastics, and the momentum is burning.

China's industrial policy vane is a baton of capital.

Inspired by the continuity of governments at all levels, a large number of companies began to incite. Nearly all companies related to fuel cells, upstream hydrogen production, storage and materials have been announced by Foton Motor, Furui Te, Huachang Chemical, Tongji Technology, etc., and will increase their investment in hydrogen fuel cells.

Capital is by nature profiteering. The nature of capital will no doubt be unleashed, especially when government subsidies for commercial fuel cell vehicles amount to as much as half a million yuan per vehicle.

But constantly pushing up the industrial passion, can we achieve the National dream of chasing Japan?

The Wall of Monopoly

The American Irene DuPont who died in 1834 would never have thought that the DuPont company he founded would have such a complex influence on the world for more than 200 years.

Those who know the components of a fuel cell electric reactor are not unfamiliar with the core technology of a fuel cell. The so-called proton exchange membrane may sound bland, but the yellow component material is the heart of the trillion-class fuel cell market.

A serious reality is that so far, there are no companies around the world that can commercialize the supply of hydrogen fuel cell proton exchange membrane materials other than DuPont. Although Japan, as a leading country in the material field, has a company in the country that can also produce, for unspecified reasons, the company refuses to sell the product to any country.

Fortunately, on this core key material, after a five-year technical breakthrough in a company called Dongyue in China, the production of perfluorinated proton exchange membranes finally reached mass production. This is also the only key material for fuel cells in China that participates in international competition.

On November 27, 2013, with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Dongyue signed a joint research and development agreement with Benz and Ford for the commercial use of fuel cell vehicles for the development of dedicated PFCs and membrane electrode resins.

Although in 2017, Dongyue Group announced that it will invest 40 million yuan to participate in the construction of a joint venture of fuel cell membranes and chloride ion membranes. However, relying on five years of technological accumulation, it is not easy to completely break the technology monopoly of DuPont, which has a history of more than 200 years. The company that started as a gunpowder maker, in the global polymer material industry, still has explosive lethality for all its competitors.

In addition to the core materials of foreign monopolies, the catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells is also the reality of limiting domestic companies.

The catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells is platinum. At present, global platinum production is about 200 tons per year, but 60 % is used as a jewelry processing and about 20 % is used as an industrial catalyst. However, its high price is obviously difficult to meet the requirements of industrialization.

Faced with some of the domestic industry's active calls for the hydrogen fuel cell industry storm practitioners, as well as excited industry experts. Chenquanshi, a professor of automotive engineering at Tsinghua University and director of the electric car division of the China Academy of automotive engineering, calmly poured a bucket of cold water on the industry boom.

"Domestic fuel cell research is very hot, but as far as I know, a lot of car companies buy fuel cells from Canada. They want to buy them from Japan but they can't buy them. At present, only two companies in Canada can make fuel cells. It is recognized as one of the world's leading countries in fuel cell technology and has not achieved industrialization. Two key technologies have not been resolved, how to industrialize? The government and auto companies should join forces with research institutions such as universities to solve basic problems such as membranes, catalysts, and polar plates, rather than making how many cars. " said Chenquanshi.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.