4G光元： 關于燃料電池的爭論已經持續了幾十年。兩會上，全國政協委員柳崇禧接受記者采訪時表示， 自主品牌純電動汽車的發展在2020年之后將面臨非常嚴峻的問題。由于政策的不連續性以及純電動汽車自身的問題，當純電動汽車完全不再享有補貼時，其市場前景令人堪憂。在電池方面，自主電池供應商的成本和技術難以和日韓企業相抗衡，2020年后，當大家都不再享受補貼時，自主品牌和外資品牌站在同一起跑線上，消費者當然會選擇物美價廉的國外產品。”另一方面，柳崇禧表示，當下純電動汽車的銷量主要集中在汽車限購城市，而在其他地區純電動汽車的銷量則相當有限。
從全球的大環境看，純電動汽車和氫燃料電池汽車，孰更有意義？始終是...
特斯拉Model S和豐田Mirai
特斯拉首席執行官埃倫·馬斯克和其他人已經發表了大量文章和輿論，試圖證明氫燃料電池劣于純電動汽車。燃料電池的主要支持者是豐田，自2014年年底以來一直推廣銷售未來的燃料電池車，并希望到2020年年銷售30,000輛氫燃料電池汽車。好事多磨，上周有報道稱，“豐田汽車公司周三表示，由于其燃料電池系統產生的輸出電壓問題，公司正在召回所有約2,800輛零排放Mirai汽車。
其他日本汽車制造商也加速氫燃料電池動力的研究。本田在去年12月推出了Clarity燃料電池轎車，現代也提供了圖森燃料電池SUV。雷克薩斯和奧迪在最近一次的底特律車展上展示了氫概念車。通用和本田最近宣布合資開發下一代燃料電池系統。該公司計劃投資8500萬美元投資，希望在2020年實現生產。
本田明亮燃料電池轎車
在日本，燃料電池不僅被視為零排放汽車的技術，而且被認為是家用熱電聯產和工業能量存儲備份的一種方式。 ENE-FARM計劃到2015年已經安裝了超過12萬個住宅燃料電池單元，政府已經設定到2030年部署530萬的目標。東芝的H2One系統在一個標準航運集裝箱中包括燃料電池發電和電解水氫發生器。它產生電和熱水，并且可以在災害中用作便攜式電源。
拖車上的標準集裝箱運輸的H2One系統
東京市計劃投資4億美元用于燃料電池車輛補貼和加氫站建設，以在2020年奧運會展示日本燃料電池技術。那時豐田希望有100輛燃料電池客車在首都東京運行。首相安倍晉三早已是一個推廣燃料電池的倡導者。安倍說，“氫能是能源安全和防止全球變暖的措施之一?！?“由于日本放松了對燃料電池的管制，未來的氫氣社會即將在日本開始。
日本豐田未來氫燃料電池汽車
在福島核災難之后，日本正在尋找新的方法來減少排放和減少對進口燃料的依賴。目前，大多數氫氣是由化石燃料生產的，但是日本政府希望在2040年之前找到從可再生能源生產氫氣的有效方法。關于燃料電池的爭論已經持續了幾十年。反對派最喜歡說“氫氣確實是未來的燃料 - 并且永遠總是未來的”。首先要明白的是，氫氣不是能源，而是儲存能量的手段，是能量載體。是電池的替代品。實際上，氫燃料電池汽車（FCV）也是電動車輛 - 它們使用與Teslas和其他電池電動車輛（BEV）相同的電動機和其它動力系統部件 - 只有能量存儲介質不同。
比較電動汽車的簡單性和氫氣車的復雜性
燃料電池車輛比當前的純電動車（BEV）具有兩個優點：它們具有更大的行駛范圍，因為儲氫罐比現今典型的EV上電池存有更多的能量;并且它們可以快速加注，像傳統汽油車加油一樣。然而，汽車電池的技術還處于起步階段，雖然純電動車BEV的行駛里程和充電時間都在不斷改善。新技術如自動無線充電和/或動態（路上）無線充電也可能有不久的將來緩解充電問題。
模型S在特斯拉增壓站
早在2003年，當Martin Eberhard和Marc Tarpenning正在計劃創建特斯拉汽車公司時，他們考慮了許多不同的能量存儲機制，包括氫氣，在決定電池是最好的選擇之前。他們考慮過氫， “氫是一種能量載體，而不是燃料，”塔彭寧說，“不幸的是，它不是一個好的能量載體。
即使從公司的開始，特斯拉公司為其Roadster就排除了氫能電動車技術，當然辯論還在繼續。在2014年以來，現代，豐田和本田紛紛推出了氫燃料電池汽車，也有人開始把FCV和BEV的問題列表比較。商業內部人士試圖解決燃料電池車輛在范圍和加油時間的優勢。Tesla為了自己的信用，公司做出了回應。與此同時，馬斯克創造了他所謂的“愚人電池”學說，解釋了燃料電池技術缺點。
特斯拉聯合創始人、首席執行官馬斯克三年前在接受媒體采訪時表示，特斯拉在全球都賣得很好，但他對燃料電池汽車路線評價很低。
馬斯克稱，做燃料電池簡直是浪費時間，燃料電池的投資非常愚蠢。氫不是高效的儲能機制。燃料電池不到普通太陽能發電效率的1/4，氫是一種可怕的能量載體。
對于大眾、通用、寶馬等斥巨資投入電動車，馬斯克表示，“這是個好消息。”也不會擔心對特斯拉的沖擊。他認為，宣稱做電動車不重要，他們到底做了多少電動汽車才重要。
馬斯克指出，大眾、通用、寶馬等大企業每年生產1億輛汽油和柴油小汽車或卡車，但是電動車的產量不到1%，現在有20億燃油車行駛在路上，即使明天開始新車量產100%都是電動車，也至少需要20年電動車才能在公路上明顯地體現出來。
此外，馬斯克還表示不喜歡談營銷。在他看來，營銷是一個有點虛假的東西，營銷試圖在產品和大家渴求的東西之間建立起聯系。“如果這個產品本身是有競爭力的、有價值的、或讓人期待的，其他的東西都不重要”。
The Tesla Model S and the Toyota Mirai (Image: Teslarati)
TESLA EDGE: JAPANESE AUTOMAKERS STUBBORNLY PUSH AHEAD WITH HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and others have spoken at great length about the reasons why hydrogen fuel cells are inferior to batteries for automotive applications, but others, particularly in Japan, do not agree. The leading proponent of fuel cells is Toyota, which has been selling the Mirai fuel cell vehicle since late 2014, and hopes to be selling 30,000 hydrogen vehicles per year by 2020. Things haven’t been going so well. This week it’s been reported that, “Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it was recalling all of the roughly 2,800 zero-emission Mirai cars on the road due to problems with the output voltage generated by their fuel cell system.”
*This article comes to us courtesy of Evannex (which also makes aftermarket Tesla accessories). Authored by Matt Pressman.
Other Japanese automakers have also embraced hydrogen fuel cells. Honda introduced the Clarity Fuel Cell sedan in December, and Hyundai offers the Tucson Fuel Cell SUV. Lexus and Audi showed hydrogen concept cars at the recent Detroit auto show. GM and Honda recently announced a joint venture to develop next-generation fuel cell systems. The companies plan to invest $85 million in the venture, and hope to reach production in 2020.
The Honda Clarity fuel cell sedan (Image: CNET)
In Japan, fuel cells are seen not only as an automotive technology, but as a way to store energy for residential and industrial use as well. The ENE-FARM program had installed over 120,000 residential fuel cell units as of 2015, and the government has set a target of deploying 5.3 million by 2030. Toshiba’s H2One includes a fuel cell, an electrolysis hydrogen generator and an electric battery in a standard shipping container. It produces electricity and hot water, and can be used as a portable power source in disasters.
H2One system transported on a trailer (Image: Alternative Energies)
The city of Tokyo plans to invest $400 million in vehicle subsidies and hydrogen fueling stations in order to showcase fuel cell technology at the 2020 Olympic Games. Toyota hopes to have 100 fuel cell buses operating in the nation’s capital by then. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has become an advocate. “Hydrogen energy is an ace in the hole for energy security and measures against global warming,” Abe said in January. “Thanks to deregulation, a hydrogen society of the future is about to begin here in Japan.”
The Toyota Mirai in Japan (Image: Autoblog)
In the wake of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan is looking for new ways to reduce emissions and reliance on imported fuels. Currently, most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, but the Japanese government hopes to find ways to produce it from renewable sources by 2040. The debate over fuel cells has been going on for decades. Detractors are fond of saying, “hydrogen is the fuel of the future – and always will be.” The first thing to understand is that hydrogen is not a source of energy, but a means of storing energy, an alternative to batteries. Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are electric vehicles – they use the same electric motors and other powertrain components that Teslas and other battery electric vehicles (BEVs) do – only the energy storage medium is different.
Comparing the simplicity of electric cars with the complexity of hydrogen cars (Image: InsideEVs)
Fuel cell vehicles have two advantages over current BEVs: they have more range, because a full tank of hydrogen stores more energy than today’s typical EV battery; and they can be refueled quickly, like a legacy gasoline vehicle. However, the technology of automotive batteries is in its infancy, and both the range and recharging time of BEVs are steadily improving. New technologies such as automatic wireless charging and/or dynamic (on-road) wireless charging may someday make the charging issue irrelevant.
Model S at a Tesla Supercharger station (Image: Crave)
Back in 2003, when Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were laying their plans to create Tesla Motors, they considered many different energy storage mechanisms, including hydrogen, before deciding that batteries were the best choice. “Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not a primary fuel,” noted Tarpenning, “and unfortunately, it’s not a good energy carrier.”
Even from the beginning of the company, Tesla dismissed hydrogen in favor of battery electric vehicle technology for its Roadster (Image: Zero Emission Motoring)
The debate continues. In 2014, Green Car Reports published a list of questions for Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda about the viability of fuel cells. To their credit, the automakers responded. In January, Business Insider attempted to address fuel cell vehicles’ advantages in range and refueling time. In the meantime, Elon Musk has explained the technical shortcomings of what he calls “fool cells” many times. As an energy storage mechanism, hydrogen is less efficient than lithium-ion batteries (to say nothing of future battery chemistries). Hydrogen is even more volatile than gasoline, so storing it and transporting it are challenging. And using it in cars would require building a network of fueling stations, whereas the electricity to charge a BEV is already available almost everywhere.
Above: Comparing the two technologies and Musk’s thoughts on hydrogen (Youtube: 5 hours ahead)
At the Automotive World News Congress in 2015, Elon said, “If you’re going to pick an energy storage mechanism, hydrogen is an incredibly dumb one to pick – you should just pick methane, that’s much much easier, or propane,” Musk said. He went on to note the complexity of producing hydrogen. “It’s just very difficult to make hydrogen and store it and use it in a car. If you, say, took a solar panel and use that…to just charge a battery pack directly, compared to split water, take hydrogen, dump oxygen, compress hydrogen…it is about half the efficiency.”
