Under the prosperity, there is a cruel reality behind it. Intense competition in the hydrogen energy industry is coming sooner than expected!
my country's hydrogen energy industry is developing rapidly, and industry news emerges endlessly. However, for the entire industry in the past two days, the biggest news must be the new stack product released by Genpu Chuangneng on November 26.
On November 26, Hydrogen Chuangneng launched a "nuclear bomb-grade" stack product - V. According to Genpu Chuangneng, this is an electric stack product for the next 5-10 years, and it is an electric stack product specially developed for heavy-duty vehicle applications; in the future, this product will make an important contribution to the commercialization of fuel cell heavy trucks. contribute.
The main reason why this stack caused a huge sensation in the industry is that hydrogen energy broke the price record of the "Hongxin" stack released by Guohong Hydrogen Energy on October 18. The price of Guohongxin's stack products is 2999 yuan/kW, and the price of strategic cooperation is 1999 yuan/kW; while the price of Haipu's strategic partners is 1699 yuan/kW (order 500 units and above), and the VIP price is 1999 yuan Yuan/kW (order 100 units and above), the preferential price is 2499 Yuan/kW (order less than 100 units).
After only 38 days, the stack showed a lower price. It can only be said that the "cost reduction fire" set off by Guohong's breakthrough in the "1" era has had a certain impact on the market, but with the help of the "strong wind" of localization, this fire has indeed ignited Already. Soon.
According to this rhythm, domestic low-priced electric stack products will appear one after another, and the old electric stack enterprises in the first echelon will also face considerable pressure. The sharp drop in the price of the stack will directly transmit the cost reduction pressure to the relevant links in the stack, such as the bipolar plate.
The "voice" of bipolar plate enterprises under the price war
According to the new policy of hydrogen energy, my country's fuel cells focus on commercial vehicles such as passenger cars, logistics, and heavy trucks. The biggest requirement for commercial vehicles on the stack is life because graphite bipolar plates have a longer life than metal bipolar plates (although metal bipolar plates have advantages in improving power and mass production, various manufacturers have launched related products one after another. But, it has not yet been mass-produced, and the life verification is not enough; the price of composite bipolar plates is relatively high, and there are few applications), so graphite bipolar plates will still occupy a large share of the market in the short term.
Regarding the pressure faced by graphite bipolar plates, the author conducted a discussion with the current domestic mainstream graphite at the 6th China International Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Refueling Station Equipment Exhibition hosted by the Fuel Cell Professional Committee of Bipolar Plate Enterprises. discuss. Discussion and in-depth exchange.
The author came to the first graphite bipolar plate enterprise and had an in-depth exchange with the project manager of the enterprise. The professional, who did not want to be named, said in the first sentence: "After Guohong Hongxin's press conference, we felt a lot of pressure. The price of the electric stack broke the record again so quickly. My first feeling is that the electric will be very difficult to stack related link manufacturers, especially bipolar plates, which have almost no profit.
The project manager went on to say: "In fact, through our efforts, the price of graphite bipolar plates has dropped a lot, from the previous 200 yuan/piece to the current price of 60-80 yuan/piece. For graphite bipolar plates, As for the polar plate companies, through calculation, when the price of the battery pack is around 3,000 yuan or not less than 2,900 yuan, we still have a certain meager profit, and now the rhythm is completely disrupted.”
Faced with the pressure of the rapid drop in the price of electric stacks, the project manager also said that he would face up to the difficulties and continue to work hard to solve the problem. He said: "The immature design and processing technology of bipolar plates is one of the important reasons for the high cost of graphite bipolar plates, so there is still room for cost reduction. After the design is completed, the bipolar plates are finalized and the molding technology is mature. In mass production, the cost of bipolar plates can be further reduced. It depends on who can quickly reduce the cost of bipolar plates. The competition to break through and catch up with cost-reduction stacks is cruel, and many companies will be eliminated in the future.
In addition, the project manager also mentioned a core problem. He believes: "Why does everyone want to make a breakthrough on the bipolar plate now? It is because the breakthrough difficulty of the membrane electrode is much higher than that of the bipolar plate, and the membrane electrode is the core of the stack." The core is to improve the overall stack The level and comprehensive performance ultimately depend on the breakthrough of membrane electrodes. Even if the metal bipolar plate is the mainstream of the industry in the future, it doesn’t matter how thin the metal plate is, and the room for improving the overall performance of the stack is very limited. "
Then the author came to another graphite bipolar plate company headquartered in Dongguan and communicated with a technical expert who had worked on the front line for 8 years. The first thing that impresses people is the other party's business card. The design of the company business card is unique, concise, clear, and artistic. Whether it is the quality or design of the business card itself, it is the most beautiful I have ever seen in the hydrogen energy industry. business card.
Of the current fierce competition situation, the technical experts also expressed a lot of pressure. He said: "The competition is too fierce now, and the price of domestic electric stacks has repeatedly hit new lows, which puts too much pressure on our bipolar plate companies. Now we must not only compete for technology, price, and appearance but also publicity, so first of all Our business card is very beautiful. Most companies in this industry still pay more attention to publicity. For such an exhibition, the booth fee of the organizer plus booth construction and related labor costs will cost 70,000 to 80,000 yuan. But to survive the competition, we need to fight in all directions through various channels.
In addition, First Element.com lists the products of well-known and powerful companies at the Beijing Hydrogen Energy Exhibition, as well as some companies learned through research, for your reference. Specifically include Air Liquide Houpu, Sinoma Technology (Chengdu), PDC of the United States, CIMC Enric, Sichuan Jinxing, etc.
Note: Affected by the recent epidemic, nearly 30% of enterprises chose to postpone their participation in the exhibition. There are not many mainstream hydrogen energy companies participating in the exhibition, and most of them are concentrated in the field of hydrogen refueling station equipment and related parts. Taking fuel cells as an example, I only saw Edelman and Zhongshan Dayang Electric (Dayang Electric uses Ballard’s previous generation stack technology), and most of the rest of the exhibitors’ main business is not hydrogen energy.
Air Liquide Houpu
Air Liquide Houpu Hydrogen Energy Equipment Co., Ltd. is a joint venture company jointly established by Houpu and Air Liquide. The company focuses on the research and development, production and sales of hydrogen energy equipment, provides infrastructure EPC general contracting services for the hydrogen energy industry, and is committed to becoming a well-known brand of overall solution service providers in the field of hydrogen energy infrastructure.
So far, Air Liquide has provided customers with more than 200 product solutions, and the parent company of Air Liquide has built more than 130 hydrogen refueling stations around the world.
This time, Air Liquide Houpu exhibited professional equipment such as hydrogenation machines and hydrogenation guns. Earlier, Liu Xing, general manager of Air Liquide Houpu, said in an interview with First Element. The cost of hydrogenation equipment is reduced by more than half.
hydrogenation machine
hydrogen gun
At the scene, according to Jiang Yong, assistant general manager of Air Liquide Houpu, Air Liquide Houpu participated in the construction of 23 hydrogen refueling stations in China, accounting for nearly 30%; Yong said that Air Liquide Houpu provided a total of 16 hydrogenation machines.
Sinoma Technology (Chengdu)
Sinoma Chengdu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinoma Science and Technology Co., Ltd. under China National Building Materials Group. In 2011, it was invested and established in Xinjin, Chengdu. Its main business is vehicle-mounted compressed natural gas cylinders, fuel cell hydrogen cylinders, and large-diameter composite gas cylinders. Products are widely used in many fields such as automobile manufacturing, gas storage and transportation, drones, and special equipment. It has two production bases in Chengdu, Sichuan, and Suzhou, Jiangsu.
At present, Sinoma Chengdu has a production capacity of 600,000 natural gas storage cylinders per year, 40,000 vehicle-mounted hydrogen storage containers per year, and 1,500 gas stations per year with long hydrogen pipelines and hydrogen storage cylinders. It has ranked first in the domestic vehicle market share for many years in a row.
Sinoma Chengdu exhibited samples of hydrogen storage tanks, UAV hydrogen storage bottles, and four-type bottles this time.
The gas cylinder supplied by Sinoma Technology for the drone has a volume of 7L, a working pressure, and a maximum allowable number of refills of 2,500 times. In addition, Sinoma Technology already has the technical reserves and mass production capacity of four cylinders.
Regarding the large-scale application of the four-type bottle in the future, the on-site technician said: "In fact, many domestic companies have technical reserves for the four-type bottle, but there are very few companies that can produce the four-type bottle. The manufacture of the four-type bottle requires advanced equipment and production lines. , and the cost of this production line is very high, and there are not many domestic companies capable of supporting it, let alone verification tests. The four-type bottle is mass-produced."
American PDC Machinery Company
Founded in 1977, Pennsylvania-based PDC is a family-owned and operated company providing compression solutions for a wide variety of gases to customers around the world. Since its inception, PDC has been dedicated to manufacturing reciprocating diaphragms. compressor.
The PDC has been advocating the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier. At present, more than 300 PDC hydrogen compressors have been used in demonstration and commercial hydrogen refueling stations around the world, such as hydrogen refueling for cars, buses, material transportation equipment, and experimental aircraft.
The diaphragm compressor exhibited at this PDC is a two-stage compressor with a pressure of up to 1000 kg/day. According to the on-site technicians, PDC has provided diaphragm compressor products for more than 60 domestic hydrogen refueling stations, accounting for as much as 70%. A typical application is the Rugao hydrogen refueling station of the National Energy Group.
CIMC Enric
CIMC Enric is a listed company on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is affiliated with CIMC Energy and Chemicals. In 2006, CIMC Enric entered the field of hydrogen refueling and took the lead in releasing a 10-tube bundle hydrogen transport vehicle in China. In 2010, it provided hydrogen refueling vehicles, hydrogen refueling stations, and gas storage cylinders for the World Expo listed on the market.
In 2011, it provided complete sets of hydrogenation equipment for the Shenzhen Universiade. In 2017, the first domestic 300 cubic meters mobile vacuum multi-layer structure liquid hydrogen storage tank was developed. In 2018, the first domestic hydrogen refueling station project of the national 863 projects successfully passed the acceptance, developed and rolled out the Type II bottle container bundle, and started the research and development of the Type IV vehicle bottle.
The model of the diaphragm compressor exhibited by CIMC Enric this time is ECE-MKZ 45/1000, and the pressure can reach 3/h per hour. In addition, according to the on-site personnel, the diaphragm compressor has been localized except for the diaphragm assembly, which is the core component of the machine head.
Sichuan Venus
Sichuan Jinxing Clean Energy Equipment Co., Ltd. specializes in the design and manufacture of clean energy equipment. It is an EPC general contracting service provider from natural gas purification processing to terminal application equipment.
The company's Gas Industry Technology Research Institute is a state-recognized enterprise technology center, a "post-doctoral innovation practice base" in Sichuan Province, and a "Chengdu academician (expert) innovation workstation".
Sichuan Jinxing has summed up more than 20 years of experience in the development and manufacture of complete sets of compressor equipment and independently developed a diaphragm compressor for hydrogen refueling stations with large displacement and high-performance hydrogen energy vehicles.
This time, Sichuan Jinxing exhibited diaphragm compressors and hydrogenation machines. According to the on-site personnel, this diaphragm compressor is a one-stage compression, and the pressure can reach 3/h per hour. Except for the imported valves, all other components of the compressor are localized. In addition, all parts of the hydrogenation machines on display are completely imported.
(Howden)
Founded in 1854 and headquartered in the UK, is a leading multinational process manufacturer specializing in industrial fans, blowers, compressors, and rotary heat exchangers. With 160 years of professional experience, its business covers 27 countries on all continents.
As the inventor of the diaphragm compressor, it has been at the forefront of product innovation technology for nearly a hundred years and has continuously improved product safety, quality, and performance. Its compressor products adopt modular design, which can perfectly realize serialized products and meet various needs of users.
No physical compressor equipment was exhibited this time. However, according to the data, it has provided compressor equipment for 14 domestic hydrogen refueling stations, a total of 18 units.