Commercial vehicles account for 12% of the total car population, but carbon emissions account for more than 55%
It is unrealistic to shorten the mileage and spend time waiting for charging for a truck with the goal of "making money". However, at the moment of the green transformation of the automobile industry, the new energy of commercial vehicles is an indispensable link.
According to the data, in August this year, the penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in mainland China exceeded 50% for the second consecutive month. However, after more than ten years of development, the penetration rate of new energy commercial vehicles, which have received policy support no less than that of new energy passenger vehicles, is only 17%, and most of them are in the field of public transportation with fixed routes.
In the face of the "dual carbon" goals of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", the emission pressure in the field of commercial vehicles is increasing day by day. "Commercial vehicles are the focus of emission reduction and carbon reduction in the automotive and transportation sectors, accounting for 12% of the overall ownership of automobiles, but their carbon emissions account for more than 55%, and it is imperative to promote the new energy transformation of commercial vehicles." Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, said in an interview with China News Weekly, "At present, comprehensive commercial vehicle mileage, reliability, economy, scene adaptability and other factors, pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology still has certain limitations, and the development direction of the coexistence of multiple technical routes is more in line with the current national conditions and industrial development laws." ”
Why is it so difficult to convert commercial vehicles to new energy?
New energy commercial vehicles refer to commercial vehicles that adopt new energy technology. These vehicles use new powertrains such as batteries, electric motors, and hydrogen fuel cells to reduce dependence on traditional petroleum fuels, reduce environmental pollution, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Liu Hanru, chief scientist of Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group and general manager of Alcohol and Hydrogen Ecology Company, told China News Weekly: "From the perspective of the industry, compared with new energy passenger vehicles, the new energy process of commercial vehicles is relatively lagging behind; From the user's point of view, the main pain points such as long charging time, few energy replenishment facilities, short cruising range, and product performance anxiety caused by complex use scenarios also restrict the continuous improvement of the penetration rate of new energy commercial vehicles. ”
Shi Jianhua said that commercial vehicles are first of all means of production, with large volume and heavy weight, and there are many things that need to be changed. In the early stage of new energy development, electrification was the mainstay, and the battery situation at that time could not fully meet the needs of commercial vehicles as a means of production. As a consumer product, passenger cars are mainly used for daily use, which is relatively small, and it is easier to promote in the early demonstration operation process, which is an objective reason.
Pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the main automotive new energy technology routes in mainland China, but from the perspective of comprehensive factors such as mileage, reliability, economy, and scenario adaptability, there are certain limitations in the development of pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell technology routes in the field of transportation, especially in the field of commercial vehicles.
In actual use, the charging time of pure e-commerce vehicles is very long, and the charging capacity is larger, which makes commercial vehicles not as fast as passenger cars in the promotion process. However, the production, storage, transportation and other links of hydrogen fuel cannot well support the needs of long-distance trunk transportation.
"At the stage when the battery is not yet mature, the technical route of new energy for commercial vehicles is not clear. Until now, commercial vehicles still coexist with a variety of technical routes, including natural gas, methanol, electric, hydrogen fuel cells, etc. Shi Jianhua said.
Liu Hanru said that the initial planning of new energy vehicles is mainly pure electric, hydrogen fuel cell, extended range or plug-in hybrid. At present, the state supports alcohol-hydrogen commercial vehicles to enjoy new energy policies, but some places still do not agree with it, and the implementation standards are different in various places.
Shi Jianhua also said that the difficulty in the promotion of alcohol and hydrogen vehicles is that they have not been fully included in the sequence of new energy vehicles, and they cannot fully enjoy the policies that new energy vehicles should enjoy. The environment surrounding this policy will also affect the construction of bunkering station facilities. As a means of production, it needs economic support, and if it enjoys different policy support from other technical routes, it may also affect the enthusiasm of promotion.
Can "alcohol and hydrogen" circumvent the shortcomings of pure electricity and hydrogen?
China is rich in coal, low in gas and poor in oil, and its dependence on foreign oil exceeds 72%. Automobiles account for 70% of the current oil consumption, and commercial vehicles are the largest consumers of energy.
In addition to the more common pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology routes in the field of new energy commercial vehicles, Shuai Shijin, a professor at the School of Vehicles and Transportation at Tsinghua University and director of the Tsinghua-Shell Clean Transportation Energy Center, believes that green methanol is very attractive as a liquid fuel. "The industry should actively embrace this new fuel, and in the future, it may form a pattern of pure electric and plug-in power accounting for 50% each."
Image source: Remote New Energy
At present, the growth rate of extended-range electric vehicles in the field of passenger cars is obvious. The alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicle is a range-extended electric vehicle that replaces the traditional gasoline and diesel as the main fuel with methanol and combines methanol fuel engine and power battery technology.
Compared with hydrogen and electricity, the advantage of methanol is that it is liquid under normal temperature and pressure conditions, as a low-carbon, oxygen-containing fuel, it has the characteristics of efficient combustion, clean emission and renewable, and is economical, safe and convenient to store, transport and use, and is called liquid "hydrogen" and liquid "electricity".
In addition, there is an interoperability between methanol and hydrogen, and in the production of green alcohol, a mixture of hydrogen with carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can be synthesized by a catalyst at high temperature and high pressure to produce methanol, so that alcohol-hydrogen vehicles can achieve decarbonization of the whole life cycle. "Green methanol is in line with the E-Fuel new energy technology route recognized by Europe, and it is more conducive to promoting alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles to enter the international market." Shi Jianhua said.
Relevant data show that at present, 70% of the electricity of the State Grid is coal power, 1 ton of coal generates 3300 kWh of electricity, produces 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide, which can be used for 49T pure electric heavy trucks to travel about 1900km, and 1 ton of non-high-quality coal can produce 0.66 tons of methanol, produce 1.67 tons of carbon dioxide, and hydrogenation can produce 1.21 tons of methanol, with a total production of 1.87 tons of methanol, which can be used for 49T methanol heavy trucks to travel about 2400km.
In terms of economy, the purchase cost of alcohol-hydrogen electric commercial vehicles is similar to that of diesel vehicles, and lower than that of pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell models, which can solve most of the bottlenecks faced by commercial vehicles in the process of electrification.
Shi Jianhua introduced that compared with traditional internal combustion engines and other new energy vehicle technologies, methanol internal combustion engine patents are more in the hands of Chinese companies, thus getting rid of the risk of "stuck neck". In addition, alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles have an independent and controllable whole industrial chain and supply chain, and have built a complete industrial chain including methanol core components, methanol powertrain, vehicle manufacturing, methanol filling equipment, methanol storage and transportation, and the core supplier system is in China. In terms of methanol energy supply, China is the world's largest producer and user of methanol, with methanol accounting for 60% of the world's production capacity, and methanol energy production and supply are independent and controllable. According to the data, the production capacity of methanol in mainland China will be close to 110 million tons in 2023, accounting for 60% of the global methanol production capacity, and it is the largest methanol producer and user.
Zhao Kai, chief representative of the Global Methanol Industry Association in China, said that it is expected that by 2030, the global renewable methanol production capacity will reach 27 million tons, of which China will occupy an important position, possibly reaching one-half of the world. In addition, the potential of methanol as a hydrogen carrier cannot be ignored. Methanol can not only be converted into hydrogen energy through hydrogen, but its theoretical hydrogen storage capacity is 40% higher than that of liquid hydrogen, making it an ideal hydrogen carrier at room temperature and pressure, suitable for fuel cells and distributed hydrogen production.
There are still difficulties to be solved
Liu Hongrong, executive deputy secretary-general of the Biomass Energy Industry Branch of the China Association for the Promotion of Industrial Development, believes that the development of the green methanol industry still faces a number of challenges. In particular, breakthroughs are urgently needed in key technologies, raw material synthesis and processing, carbon-hydrogen ratio adjustment, and catalyst efficiency. At the same time, the dispersion of biomass and the high cost of carbon dioxide capture are also limiting factors. Standard construction is very important in the development of the industry, and there are a number of national, industry and local standards, but there is a lack of standards specifically for green methanol.
"The pain point of the development of alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles is mainly refueling at present." Liu Hanru said that at present, there is no competent department in the industry to take the lead in methanol, "hydrogen fuel is the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and gasoline and diesel belong to the Ministry of Commerce, so now we are using the policy promotion of various local governments to take the lead in the trial." ”
In addition, Liu Hanru also said that remote technology is confident, but it needs policy support. "It is hoped that a social consensus will be formed through various ways to make the country's new energy route more complete and abundant, and realize the multi-energy technology route."
In fact, in the past year or so, the development of alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles has been further supported by central and local policies. Among them, in December 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission revised and issued the "Guiding Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)", adding "hydrogen production by water electrolysis and carbon dioxide catalytic synthesis of green methanol". In August 2024, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development", and the refueling stations were written into the green transportation infrastructure network.
Since the beginning of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Finance have successively issued documents, focusing on the scrapping and renewal of old operating trucks and city buses, and issued a series of implementation rules for trade-in subsidies. As of the beginning of September, national ministries and commissions, provinces and cities have issued more than 30 policy documents to support the promotion and application of alcohol-hydrogen vehicles.
Chen Bo, director of the Institute of Standards and Quotas of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that research will be carried out with the help of the innovation platform to actively promote the application of new technologies and new products in various application scenarios, including the application of alcohol in the automotive industry.
Boosted by policies, commercial vehicle and parts companies, including China National Heavy Duty Truck, Shaanxi Automobile Heavy Truck, FAW Jiefang, Weichai and Yuchai, have entered the methanol energy market, and explored in the field of methanol heavy trucks and related power chains, and methanol vehicles may usher in a turning point in development.