New Energies, new possibilities

ホンダが米GMと共同開発する燃料電池（FC）ユニットが姿を現した（図1）。従来システムからFCセルを一回り大きくすることで、発電能力の向上や量産性の改善を図ったようだ。

図1　ホンダが米GMと共同開発する燃料電池（FC）ユニットの試作機

写真左側から空気や水素を供給し、FCスタックで化学反応させる。（撮影：日経Automotive）

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　ホンダは、乗用車タイプの燃料電池車（FCV）「クラリティフューエルセル」の販売を2021年9月に終了していた。リース販売として累計1900台程度と少なかったからだろう。FCV市場での再起を図るホンダは、早ければ23年ごろに次期モデルを投入するという。

　その車両に搭載するFCシステムは、GMと開発したものになりそうだ。両社は13年にFCシステムの共同開発で提携した。開発が佳境を迎える現在は、「本田技術研究所の国内拠点で試作システムを動かし、性能を検証している」（本田技術研究所の開発担当者）段階である。新型コロナウイルス感染症の影響でGMの開発拠点との行き来は制限されるが、「オンライン会議システムを使ってGMの開発担当者と密に連絡を取っている」（同担当者）という。

　その共同開発品が、「第18回 FC EXPO 水素・燃料電池展」（22年3月16～18日、東京ビッグサイト）でホンダが展示したFCユニットである。出力は80kW。ユニットの寸法は835×605×660mmで、「乗用車のフロントフード下に搭載できるサイズ」（同担当者）に仕上げた。

　ホンダは総合展示会「スマートエネルギーWeek 2022 春」中の「第18回 FC EXPO 水素・燃料電池展」に、2023年の投入を予定する第2世代燃料電池車（FCV）向けパワーユニットを出展した。ただし、色ガラス越しの“チラ見せ”である。

ホンダの次世代FCパワーユニット（正面）

出力は80kW、寸法は835mm×605mm×660mm（写真：日経クロステック）

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ホンダの次世代FCパワーユニット（側面）

（写真：日経クロステック）

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　ホンダは21年6月、水素を燃料とする第1世代のFCV「クラリティ FUEL CELL」の生産を中止し、その販売を同年9月で終了すると明らかにした。このことで「ホンダはFCVから撤退」とみる向きも一部にあった。これに対して同社は「それは誤解。確かにクラリティFCは生産中止だが、水素やFCVにはむしろ注力していく」（同社の説明員）とする。

　ただし、この次世代パワーユニットの搭載先としては、クラリティFCと同様な乗用車タイプというよりは、むしろ大型トラックや大型の可搬型電源装置を想定しているようだ。

ホンダといすゞが20年1月に共同研究することを発表したFC大型トラックのイメージ

重量は25トン、航続距離は600kmを想定する。（写真：ブースでのイメージ写真を日経クロステックが撮影）

自動車排ガス浄化触媒や、電動自動車用電極触媒の開発・生産を手掛けるキャタラー（静岡県掛川市）は、トヨタ自動車の燃料電池車 新型「MIRAI（ミライ）」に採用された電極触媒の量産を開始した。 　燃料電池車は、水素と酸素の科学反応で電気を発生させ、モーターを動かして走る自動車だ。排出されるのは水だけで「究極のエコカー」といわれる。トヨタは2014年に世界で初めて一般向けの燃料電池車「MIRAI」を発売。2020年12月に2代目となる新型を投入した。 　キャタラーによると、新型「MIRAI」の燃料電池について、触媒層で水素と酸素の反応を促進させる材料である「電極触媒」をキャタラーとトヨタが共同開発。従来の電極触媒と比べ触媒性能を大幅に向上させ、燃料電池車のコスト低減ができることが特徴だとしている。キャタラーは初代「MIRAI」にも電極触媒を提供、新型では高性能に機能アップしたという。

キャタラーが燃料電池車で使用する電極触媒の量産開始　トヨタの新型「MIRAI」に採用、コスト低減図る（オーヴォ） - Yahoo!ニュース

With the rapidly expanding interest in heavy-duty electric trucks, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) and Hino USA will ‘leverage’ the new Hino XL Series chassis with Toyota’s proven fuel cell technology to build on the development of a 25-tonne fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for the Japanese market, which was announced earlier this year. The first demonstration vehicle is expected to be launched in the first half of 2021. 

Tak Yokoo, senior executive engineer at Toyota Research and Development, said: “A fuel cell-powered version of the Hino XL Series is a win-win for both customers and the community. It will be quiet, smooth and powerful while emitting nothing but water. Toyota’s 20-plus years of fuel cell technology, combined with Hino’s heavy-duty truck experience, will create an innovative and capable product.” 

Meanwhile, the railway company JR East, Hitachi Ltd and Toyota Motor Corporation have entered into an agreement to develop and test railway vehicles equipped with hybrid systems that use hydrogen-powered fuel cells and storage batteries as their electric power source. 

The combination of JR East’s vehicle design and manufacturing technologies, Hitachi’s railway hybrid drive system technologies and Toyota’s technologies from its development of the Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle and the SORA fuel cell bus, will enable the three companies to adapt the fuel cells used in automobiles for railway applications. 

Toyota will develop the fuel cell device and Hitachi the hybrid drive system in the test train, which will have the nickname HYBARI (HYdrogen-HYBrid Advanced Rail vehicle for Innovation). 

Testing is scheduled to start in March 2022 on the JR East Tsurumi Line/Nambu Line, with the two-carriage train having a maximum speed of 62mph and a maximum range of 87 miles. 

When a company the size of Bosch is poised to release a new technology, it’s usually something to take seriously. Tier-one suppliers like Bosch are at the top of the supply chain to the automotive industry and are responsible (rather than the car manufacturers) for introducing much of the technology that makes all vehicles tick.

Bosch recently announced plans to start production of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains between 2022 and 2023, focusing initially on trucks. Once these are established in heavy vehicles, smaller-scale versions for cars can follow. Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen from the air to electricity, heat and water, and using hydrogen produced from renewable energy makes the operation of a fuel cell vehicle carbon-neutral. Heavy trucks are a good starting point for the technology because batteries big enough to provide sufficient range would be huge in volume and weight, not to mention incredibly expensive.

Hydrogen has a high energy density and, because it’s stored as a compressed gas in a fuel cell vehicle, its quantity is measured by weight, rather than volume. One kilogram of hydrogen contains about the same amount of energy as 3.3 litres of diesel. Bosch calculates that 7kg of hydrogen is enough to power a 40-tonne truck for around 60 miles. That means 35kg of hydrogen would be good for 300 miles.

Given that the battery in a premium electric car today can weigh more than 500kg, it doesn’t take much imagination to work out that a truck battery capable of doing the same would be huge – unless there’s a radical improvement in the energy density of current battery technology.

There’s plenty of debate about the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells compared with batteries, and there are two conflicting schools of thought. One is that feeding electricity (an energy source) straight into a battery is more efficient than converting it into hydrogen (an energy carrier) then back into electricity. The other, to which Bosch subscribes, is that electricity production and demand rarely coincide, so making hydrogen on a decentralised basis to store, rather than waste, surplus electrical energy makes the case for fuel cell vehicles. Bosch believes that hydrogen costs will fall in the medium term in order that running a fuel cell vehicle will be no more expensive than one with a conventional powertrain.

Tests over the decades have demonstrated hydrogen to be safe compared with liquid fuels, too. Hydrogen is 14 times lighter than air and volatile. In the right proportions, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen can be explosive, but when hydrogen escapes from a vehicle, it rises too quickly to react with oxygen in the air. Hydrogen fires can be over in a flash and might not do much damage, whereas heavier-than-air, ground-hugging petrol fumes can easily cause explosive fires.

Fuel cell vehicles share pretty much the same electric driveline with battery-electric vehicles, so with a combination of both hydrogen and battery technologies, vehicle manufacturing could become more streamlined and increasingly sustainable.

EV batteries still retain around 80% of their original capacity after 100,000 miles, and reports suggest the global storage capacity using second-life EV batteries could reach 275gWh by 2030. BMW UK is working with Off Grid Energy to create 40kWh mobile power sources, while the Smarthubs project of Groupe Renault and Connected Energy is installing 360kWh ‘E-Stor’ systems on commercial sites in the UK and France.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/under-skin-logic-behind-boschs-plans-hydrogen-fuel-cell-trucks

Hyundai Motor entered a separate MOU with China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group and Hebei Iron and Steel Group to encourage popularization of a hydrogen mobilities in Jing-Jin-Ji region

Hyundai Motor Company is spearheading development of a hydrogen society and fuel cell commercial vehicle ecosystem in China with regional partners.

Hyundai Motor announced today that it has signed an MOU with Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd., Shanghai Sunwise New Energy System Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Ronghe Electric Technology Financial Leasing Co., Ltd., with an aim of establishing a hydrogen mobility ecosystem around Shanghai and Yangtze River Delta area.

The company also signed a separate MOU with China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group (CISRI) and Hebei Iron and Steel Group (HBIS Group) for an equivalent aim in Jing-Jin-Ji area as it introduced Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell heavy-duty truck for the first time in China at the 2020 China International Import Expo (CIIE).

“Hyundai believe China has a massive potential for hydrogen powered commercial vehicle,” said In Cheol Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial Vehicle Division at Hyundai Motor. “The company is committed to becoming a FCEV solution provider by creating a business cluster across the entire hydrogen ecosystem in China.”

The MOU among Hyundai, Shanghai Electric Power, Shanghai Sunwise New Energy System and Shanghai Ronghe Electric Technology Financial Leasing will form a cooperative system that connects production of hydrogen, construction of refueling stations and financing of fleet operations based on supply of Hyundai’s fuel cell electric commercial vehicles in the Yangtze River Delta area. In addition, it plans to promote a pilot operation business of fuel cell electric vehicles.

Shanghai Electric Power will lead investments in constructing hydrogen refueling stations and an electrolytic hydrogen production process using renewable energy as well as propelling a hydrogen production project through Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC).

Shanghai Sunwise will build and operate hydrogen refueling stations and provide comprehensive solutions for hydrogen refueling, while Shanghai Ronghe Electric Technology Financial Leasing will provide financial support services for the fuel cell electric commercial vehicle pilot operations.

Hyundai Motor will supply its fuel cell electric commercial vehicles to major logistics companies in the Yangtze River Delta area where the company is going to establish and manage a fuel cell electric commercial vehicle operating company.

Through the MOU, the four parties aim to construct a cost-competitive and highly efficient business model drawing on each company’s respective expertise, supplying more than 3,000 fuel cell electric trucks in the Yangtze River Delta area by 2025.

Another MOU with China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group and Hebei Iron and Steel Group is aiming to build a cooperative system for hydrogen mobility in the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster. As a home to the country’s major steelmakers, the cluster boasts a stable and abundant supply of by-product hydrogen. It also has high demand of heavy-duty trucks due to heavy freight volume in the region.

Tangshan city government in the Jing-Jin-Ji area is pushing ahead with a plan to construct a hydrogen industry cluster facilitating development of fuel cell electric vehicles, especially heavy-duty trucks, logistics and urban maintenance vehicles. The government also is building infrastructure for supplying low-cost, high efficiency by-product hydrogen.

Through this MOU, the CISRI is responsible for providing technology related to hydrogen storage, transportation and refueling as well as support for the construction of hydrogen refueling stations. HBIS Group will supply hydrogen using by-product resources and identify sources for fuel cell commercial vehicle demand while Hyundai Motor will develop and distribute hydrogen electric trucks suitable for the needs of the local market in cooperation with a local commercial vehicle subsidiary.

The three parties will undertake a trial run project of fuel cell commercial trucks in the Jing-Jin-Ji area with the aim of supplying 1,000 fuel cell commercial trucks by 2025.

Hyundai is cooperating closely with its Chinese partners in line with the Chinese government’s fuel cell roadmap, which aims to have 1 million fuel cell electric vehicles by 2030. Hyundai’s goal is to supply over 27,000 FCEV units in China by 2030 as the company plans to further strengthen its position as a leading global FCEV technology brand through this multilateral cooperation in China.

Hyundai Motor last month successfully handed over the first seven units of its XCIENT Fuel Cell, the world’s first mass-produced fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck, to customers in Switzerland, with a total of 50 hitting the roads there this year. The delivery of XCIENT Fuel Cell marks the official entry of Hyundai’s commercial vehicles in the European market, a touchstone for the company’s expansion into the North American and Chinese commercial markets.