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it is unrealistic for a truck that aims to "make money" and can "load and pull" to shorten its mileage and waste time waiting for recharging. however, in the current green transformation of the automobile industry, the new energy use of commercial vehicles is an unavoidable link.

data show that in august this year, the penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in my country exceeded 50% for the second consecutive month. however, after more than ten years of development, new energy commercial vehicles, which have received no less policy support than new energy passenger vehicles, have a penetration rate of only 17%, and most of them are in the bus field with fixed routes.

facing the "dual carbon" goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality", the emission pressure in the commercial vehicle field is increasing day by day. "commercial vehicles are the focus of emission reduction and carbon reduction in the automotive and transportation fields. their ownership accounts for 12% of the total vehicle ownership, but their carbon emissions account for more than 55%. it is imperative to promote the new energy transformation of commercial vehicles. "shi jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the china electric vehicles association of 100, said in an interview with china news weekly, "at present, considering factors such as commercial vehicle range, reliability, economy, and scene adaptability, pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell technologies still exist. with certain limitations, the development direction of coexistence of multiple technical routes is more in line with the current national conditions and industrial development rules. "

why is it so difficult to convert commercial vehicles into new energy sources?

new energy commercial vehicles refer to commercial vehicles using new energy technology. these vehicles use batteries, electric motors,hydrogen fuel celland other new power systems to reduce dependence on traditional petroleum fuels, reduce environmental pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

liu hanru, chief scientist of long-range new energy commercial vehicle group and general manager of alcohol hydrogen ecological company, told china news weekly: "from an industry perspective, compared with new energy passenger vehicles, the new energy process of commercial vehicles is relatively lagging behind; from a user perspective, charging major pain points such as long time, few energy replenishment facilities, short cruising range, and product performance anxiety caused by complex use scenarios also restrict the continued improvement of the penetration rate of new energy commercial vehicles.”

shi jianhua said that commercial vehicles are first and foremost means of production. they are large in size and heavy in weight, and require many changes. in the early days of new energy development, electrification was the main focus, and the current status of batteries could not fully meet the needs of commercial vehicles as a means of production. as a consumer product, passenger cars are mainly for daily use. they are relatively small and are easier to promote during early demonstration operations. this is an objective reason.

pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are currently the main new energy technology routes for automobiles in my country. however, judging from factors such as cruising range, reliability, economy, and scene adaptability, pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell technology routes have the upper hand in the transportation field. , especially the development of the commercial vehicle field has certain limitations.

in actual use, pure electric commercial vehicles require a long time to charge and the charging capacity is larger, making commercial vehicles not as fast as passenger vehicles in the promotion process. however, the production, storage, and transportation of hydrogen fuel cannot well support the needs of long-distance trunk transportation.

"at the stage when batteries are still immature, the technical route for new energy use of commercial vehicles is unclear. 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 for new energy vehicles is mainly pure electric, hydrogen fuel cell, extended range or plug-in hybrid. the country currently supports the new energy policy for alcohol-hydrogen commercial vehicles, but some places still don't agree with it, and the standards are different in different places.

shi jianhua also said that the difficulty in promoting alcohol-hydrogen vehicles is that they have not been fully included in the sequence of new energy vehicles and cannot fully enjoy the policies that new energy vehicles should enjoy. the environment surrounding this policy will also affect the construction of filling station facilities. as a means of production, it requires economic support. if it enjoys different policies from other technical routes, it may also affect the enthusiasm for promotion.

can “alcoholic hydrogen” circumvent the shortcomings of pure electricity and hydrogen?

china is rich in coal, short of gas and poor in oil, and its dependence on foreign oil exceeds 72%. cars consume 70% of the current oil consumption, and commercial vehicles are even larger energy consumers.

in addition to the relatively common pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell technology routes in the field of new energy commercial vehicles,tsinghua universityshuai shijin, a professor at the school of vehicles and transportation 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. in the future, a pattern of 50% pure electric power and 50% plug-in power may be formed."

at present, extended-range electric vehicles are growing rapidly in the passenger car field. the alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicle is an extended-range electric vehicle that uses methanol instead of traditional gasoline and diesel as the main fuel, 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 emissions, and renewable. it is economical, safe, and convenient to store and transport. it is called it is liquid "hydrogen" and liquid "electricity".

in addition, there is interoperability between methanol and hydrogen. in the preparation of green alcohol, methanol can be produced from a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide through a catalyst synthesis reaction under high temperature and high pressure. in this way, alcohol-hydrogen vehicles can achieve a full life cycle. of decarbonization. "green methanol is in line with the european-recognized e-fuel new energy technology route, which is more conducive to promoting alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles to enter the international market." shi jianhua said.

relevant data shows that currently 70% of the electricity generated by the state grid is coal-fired. one ton of coal generates 3,300 kilowatt-hours of electricity and produces 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide, which can be used by a 49t pure electric heavy truck to travel about 1,900 kilometers. one ton of non-high-quality coal can produce 0.66 tons of methanol. , producing 1.67 tons of carbon dioxide, which can be hydrogenated to produce 1.21 tons of methanol, with a total production of 1.87 tons of methanol, which can be used by a 49t methanol heavy truck to travel about 2,400km.

in terms of economy, the purchase cost of alcohol-hydrogen electric commercial vehicles is similar to that of diesel vehicles and lower than pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell models. it can solve most of the bottlenecks faced in the current process of electrification of commercial vehicles.

shi jianhua said that compared with traditional internal combustion engines and other new energy vehicle technologies, more methanol internal combustion engine patents are 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 entire industrial chain and supply chain. a complete industrial chain including methanol core components, methanol powertrain, vehicle manufacturing, methanol filling equipment, and methanol storage and transportation has been built. the core the supplier system is all in china. in terms of methanol energy supply, china is the world's largest methanol producer and user. methanol currently accounts for 60% of global production capacity, and methanol energy production and supply are independently controllable. data shows that my country's methanol production capacity will be close to 110 million tons in 2023, accounting for 60% of the global methanol production capacity, and is the largest methanol producer and user.

zhao kai, chief representative of china of the global methanol industry association, said that it is expected that by 2030, global renewable methanol production capacity will reach 27 million tons, of which china will occupy an important position and may reach one-half of the world's total. in addition, the potential of methanol as a hydrogen carrier cannot be ignored. not only can methanol be converted into hydrogen energy through hydrogen, its theoretical hydrogen storage capacity is 40% higher than that of liquid hydrogen, making it an ideal hydrogen carrier at normal temperatures and pressures, 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 industrial development promotion association, believes that the development of the green methanol industry still faces many 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 crucial in industrial development. there are currently a number of national, industry and local standards, but there is a lack of standards specifically targeting green methanol.

"the pain point in the development of alcohol-hydrogen electric models is currently mainly refueling." liu hanru said that there is currently no competent authority in the industry to take the lead in methanol. "hydrogen fuel belongs to the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, and gasoline and diesel belong to the ministry of commerce, so now we use give full play to the policy promotion of various local governments and try it out first.”

in addition, liu hanru also said that he is confident in remote technology at the technical level, but needs policy support. "we hope to form social consensus through various methods to make the country's new energy route more complete and enriched and realize a multi-energy technology route."

in fact, over 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 released the "guidance catalog for industrial structural adjustment (2024 edition)", adding "hydrogen production by electrolysis of water and catalytic synthesis of green methanol from carbon dioxide." in august 2024, the state council issued the "opinions on accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development", and alcohol filling stations were included in the green transportation infrastructure network.

since the beginning of this year, the national development and reform commission, the ministry of transport, and the ministry of finance have successively issued documents focusing on the scrapping and renewal of old operating trucks, city buses, etc., and issued a series of implementation details of trade-in subsidies. these policies are accelerating the widespread application of alcohol-based electric vehicles and promoting the green transformation of the commercial vehicle industry. as of early september, national ministries and commissions and various provinces and cities have issued more than 30 policy documents supporting the promotion and application of alcohol-hydrogen vehicles.

chen bo, director of the standards and quota research institute of the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, said that he will use the innovation platform to carry out research and actively promote the application of new technologies and new products in various application scenarios, including the application of alcohol in the automotive industry.

with the support of 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 industry and are exploring the field of methanol heavy trucks and related power chains. methanol vehicles may usher in a turning point in development.

author: liu shanshan

editor: zheng yu