At present, there are five hydrogen refueling stations across the country. It is reported that the hydrogen storage capacity of the Danzao Town hydrogen refueling station is 360 kilograms, and it can fill hydrogen gas for 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses and 20 hydrogen fuel cell cars per day.
As one of the five demonstration cities of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the United Nations Development Program to promote the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles in China, Foshan is the first city in the country to launch this demonstration project. The first phase of the project plans to invest 17 to 20 hydrogen-powered buses, 20 to 30 hydrogen-powered medium-sized passenger vehicles, and 70 to 80 hydrogen energy logistics vehicles. In the domestic commercial field of hydrogen energy vehicles, Foshan has a comparatively advanced pace. Currently, it has established a fuel cell production line in cooperation with the Canadian Ballard Power Systems Co., Ltd. The buses produced by the company have already begun trial operations and become the demonstration area for the national hydrogen energy city buses.
Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and member of the National Expert Group on “863” energy-saving and new-energy automobile major projects, Yi Baolian, told the “China Business” reporter that the cost of infrastructure for hydrogen refueling stations is very high. “The cost of a hydrogen refueling station is equivalent to ordinary gas filling. Standing 10 times."
The outstanding features of hydrogen fuels as energy sources are pollution-free, efficient, and recyclable. Burning 1 gram of hydrogen can release 142 kilojoules of heat, which is 3 times the amount of heat of gasoline. The product of its combustion is water, no ash and waste gas, and it will not pollute the environment. Hydrogen as a fuel is still considered by the industry to be the most ideal energy source in the future. Hydrogen energy is a national strategic energy, and hydrogen-powered automobiles are also the most cutting-edge topics in the international new energy field.
At present, hydrogen fuel vehicles still have many technical difficulties that need to be overcome. Yi Polian said that fuel cell vehicles than the lithium battery threshold is higher, and hydrogen is also easy to cause fire safety issues. Each vehicle must have a fast hydrogen discharge system. Once an accident occurs, hydrogen should be quickly discharged into the air. Therefore, there are many problems with fuel cell vehicles in the garage. The best way is to store them at low temperatures.
In the hydrogen-powered car field, Japanese car companies have always been at the forefront. Toyota and Honda have begun commercial operations. Toyota North American CEO Jim Lentz said in an interview with foreign media that at present, Toyota has manufactured and sold more than 100 Toyota Mirai hydrogen energy vehicles, but all current customers are limited to the California region of the United States. . Toyota plans to sell 3,000 hydrogen-powered cars in 2017. Yi Polian believes that even if it is at the forefront of Toyota, sales of hydrogen-powered cars are still not ideal. On the one hand, it is because the safety control of such vehicles is relatively difficult, and it is also because the infrastructure of hydrogen refueling stations cannot keep up. In order to solve the problem of hydrogen refueling station, Toyota also cooperated with Hino as a hydrogen-powered bus because the reliance of the bus on the hydrogen refueling station is relatively low and it is currently in trial operation in Tokyo.