Limited by high cost of hydrogen fuel cell, industrialization still needs to "go through all difficulties"

In the face of the profound changes in the world's energy production and consumption, hydrogen energy is regarded as the ultimate energy in the 21st century, and the corresponding hydrogen fuel cell technology is becoming an important direction of the global energy technology revolution. Many companies and investors are gearing up for hydrogen fuel cells to get a head start in the new race. But while the outlook is good, the road is bumpy. At present, hydrogen fuel cells are still facing many problems such as technological breakthrough and commercial promotion.

China ranks second

Hydrogen fuel cells are popular at home, especially in policy. In the past two years, subsidies for new energy vehicles have declined, but subsidies for hydrogen fuel vehicles are not among them. Under the guidance of the policy, the development of hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry in various regions is full of enthusiasm. The reporter found that Beijing, Shanghai, henan, hainan provinces and cities have announced local fuel cell development plans and subsidy policies, and many local governments and enterprises have also actively increased investment to carry out fuel cell and hydrogen engineering technology research and development and demonstration projects. "With the policy unchanged, this positive trend is expected to continue until around 2020." Jiang lijun, vice President of the China renewable energy association and chairman of the hydrogen energy committee.

Although the domestic fuel cell has a good technical reserve, is in the application demonstration stage, is gradually entering the market, "but the industrial chain is not complete, generally behind the international leading level, with the United States, Japan, Germany gap is obvious, in the second square. Jiang lijun said bluntly.

"The term 'second phalanx' refers to hydrogen fuel cell technology." Wang shumao, secretary general of the hydrogen energy special committee of the China renewable energy society, told reporters, "for example, at present, the domestic fuel cell is still in the dozens of kilowatts level, while the foreign has reached the megawatt level, in the aspect of fuel cell electric vehicle and distributed fuel cell power station, the foreign countries have also realized the pre-commercial application. "We urgently need to develop some high power density, long life fuel cell systems and on-board hydrogen storage systems and their supporting equipment to meet the operational needs of fuel cell vehicles.

High cost

As far as the development of hydrogen fuel cell is concerned, the high cost greatly restricts the industrialization process of hydrogen fuel cell.

"If hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are to compete with all vehicle types, including conventional vehicles and lithium battery vehicles, the cost issue cannot be ignored." "If the high cost of hydrogen fuel cells continues for a long time, it may affect the marketization process," wang added.

The largest cost component of fuel cells is the fuel cell stack. "To commercialize hydrogen fuel cells, it is imperative to reduce the cost of platinum catalyst, electrolyte membrane and bipolar plate, three key components of hydrogen fuel cells." "Wang shumao said.

It is known that at present, most fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst. Although both at home and abroad are trying to reduce the amount of platinum or adopt cheap metal to replace platinum to reduce the cost, it is difficult to make a breakthrough in the near future. In terms of electrolyte membrane, the most common proton exchange membrane with strong oxidation and reduction stability is perfluoresulfonic acid membrane. However, the product is mainly dependent on imports and the price is subject to foreign monopoly. Therefore, the development of high-performance domestic cheap proton exchange membrane is the current priority.

"The bipolar problem is the trickiest. As the most commonly used bipolar plate, graphite plate has good corrosion resistance and is very popular, but the processing and molding costs are too high and there is no downward trend. There has been a lot of research on metal bipolar plate in the industry, but the metal plate corrosion resistance is poor, which brings potential trouble for battery life. Wang shumao points out the problem.

In addition to the difficulty in reducing the cost of core components in the short term, the high price of fuel cell components further drives up the cost. In the industry's view, hydrogen fuel cells are still a long way from cutting costs.

Inadequate infrastructure

The obstacles to the development of hydrogen fuel cell industry are not only the price factor, but also the lack of supporting hydrogen refueling stations and other infrastructure. Due to the hydrogen station and other supporting facilities too little, hydrogenation problem is very prominent.

It is known that at present, China has more than 1,300 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and the completion of the hydrogen station only 14, the planning and construction of the hydrogen station about 40. "Although the construction of supporting infrastructure has been included in the application planning at present, the high construction cost of hydrogenation stations and the small number of fuel cell vehicles make the construction of hydrogenation stations lack driving force, which is far from meeting the requirements of fuel cell industrialization promotion," said jiang.

"The imbalance between supporting facilities and the development of automobiles hindering the promotion of hydrogen fuel cells exists in foreign countries, such as the United States, but it is more serious in our country. "We are now trying to proceed from the needs of end users, and strive to achieve the simultaneous development of refueling stations and fuel vehicles, so that owners can drive conveniently and use at ease. "Wang shumao said.

"" for the development of the entire hydrogen fuel cell industry, adding and improving infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations is of great significance." " "It will not only help improve the overall environment, but also help people get rid of the misunderstanding of 'talking about hydrogen,' and promote the improvement and development of relevant standards and regulations," jiang said.

People who don't know much about hydrogen believe that hydrogen is a kind of dangerous chemical, so they should stay away from hydrogen. However, the safety risk of hydrogen is controllable. Based on a large number of tests and the actual operation of fuel cell vehicles, yi baolian, an academician of the Chinese academy of engineering, believes that the collision safety performance of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is fully guaranteed and can meet and meet the national collision safety standards.

"In order to change the misunderstanding of the public, it is necessary to deepen the popularization of hydrogen and establish a correct understanding of the industry, so as to promote the healthy development of the hydrogen industry," jiang said.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.