[ad_1]
DMartin Lundstedt, head of the Swedish group Volvo, summed up the presentation of the new joint venture in a simple sentence last week: “The association is the new leadership,” he said of the joint venture with the Daimler group for the production of fuel cells. . Together now they want to create what has not been possible until now: conquer the market for fuel cells.
The two European competitors were previously an example of hesitation and lack of innovation in the fuel cell. For a long time, battery-powered electric units were the future before Bosch turned to alternative technology last year. The Asian competition in particular has taken advantage of the time and has come a long way.
Now the update begins, which obviously does not dare to do alone: the Volvo Group, to which the car brand Volvo has ceased to belong, is investing 600 million euros in the project. Daimler contests its 50 percent by incorporating its entire hydrogen fuel cell business, in which it has been working with moderate success for 20 years.
This includes licenses, patents, production systems, and test vehicles such as cars, trucks, and buses. Both companies want to advance in the production of fuel cells, especially for trucks, but also for stationary use.
The small series of the Mercedes GLC F-Cell fuel cell SUV will be discontinued soon, Daimler said these days. A new fuel cell car model is not currently planned. Volvo, in turn, builds on its previous commitment to fuel cells, from which the Swedes withdrew a few years ago after initial attempts.
Trucks need fewer service stations
Water and oxygen combine chemically in fuel cells, producing electricity, heat, and water vapor. Fuel cells are the technical counterpart of electrolysis, in which water is divided into oxygen and hydrogen.
Both processes have been established for decades. If hydrogen is generated with electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar power plants, or geothermal energy, a chain of effects is created without greenhouse gas emissions.
For this to be suitable for daily use, the costs for the production and use of hydrogen must continue to decrease. Several companies around the world are working on this. However, with the exception of Bosch, German manufacturers are not at the top.
Daimler and the Volvo Group assume that heavy trucks will increasingly use electric motors and fuel cells on long-haul routes in the second half of the decade.
The battery charge required for electric trucks would be too great. The fuel cell is offered as an energy provider because hydrogen provides a significantly higher energy density than batteries.
“The low availability of hydrogen service stations has been a major bottleneck in technology diffusion,” says Martin Daum, head of the Daimler Truck division and member of the Daimler AG board of directors. “However, the problem with using fuel cells in trucks is smaller than with cars. Trucks with their long distances of more than 1000 kilometers need fewer service stations ”.
Long distance advantage
Gerhard Wolf, an automotive market analyst at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), believes it is right for Daimler and Volvo to join forces in the further development of fuel cells. “Technological research, also with an uncertain result, is expensive. At the moment, all manufacturers are focusing on the battery for years to come, “he says. “It is a sign of reason to cooperate, team up, and share the costs and risks.”
Bosch is also driving the development and production of fuel cells. However, the Stuttgart-based group, the world’s leading automotive supplier, has trusted the market from the start, from trucks to cars to stationary applications.
Bosch and the Swedish company Powercell have been producing the so-called serial batteries since 2019 – the heart of the fuel cell. Bosch is working with Nikola Trucks, the American manufacturer of electric trucks, on a truck that runs on fuel cells. These vehicles are slated to go on the market from 2022. Nikola wants to build its heavy-duty electric trucks for the European market at Iveco in Ulm.
Bosch estimates that “up to 20 percent of all fuel cell electric vehicles will be on the road by 2030,” says CEO Volkmar Denner: “We are preparing to advance this technology for cars and trucks.”
The use of the fuel cell is also worthwhile for cars and light commercial vehicles, especially if the vehicle covers long distances, Denner says.
Asian Tech Drivers
However, German automakers currently rely almost exclusively on battery-powered electric cars, both Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. They believe that only in this way can they achieve the necessary quantities in the coming years and thus comply with the strictest limit values of the European Union for the emission of greenhouse gases in new vehicles.
BMW is cooperating with the Japanese group Toyota in the development of fuel cell vehicles. Volkswagen’s subsidiary Audi in turn has a licensing agreement with Hyundai of South Korea. However, the drivers of technology are not German manufacturers, they are Asians.
Hyundai and Toyota have been producing serial vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells since the mid-decade: Hyundai den Nexo, Toyota den Mirai. With more than 70,000 euros, these vehicles are still very expensive in Europe. Since its introduction, only a few thousand Nexo and Mirai have been built.
However, these cars now provide the two manufacturers with market data for several million kilometers of vehicles, in individual operation, in fleet service, such as private limousines, company vehicles, or patrol cars. For both companies, these early car models are just a small part of the much bigger overall business with the fuel cell.
Toyota, for example, plans to increase its annual production of Mirai from around 3,000 units in the coming years to up to 100,000. Toyota is also planning a heavy-duty fuel cell truck alongside Japanese manufacturer Hino Motors. The world’s second largest automotive group is also driving the use of hydrogen power generation in other areas, such as forklifts.
Diesel role model
Hyundai plans to sell 110,000 fuel cell-powered vehicles annually by 2025. The Group is working worldwide to expand the use of the fuel cell and the supply of hydrogen.
For its plants in South Korea, Hyundai plans to build the capacity to produce half a million fuel cells annually by 2030.
“We hope that other manufacturers in Germany will also raise the flag when it comes to the production and marketing of fuel cell vehicles,” says a spokesperson for Hyundai Germany. “That would help us all, for example, expand the infrastructure for faster hydrogen supply.”
When it comes to marketing the fuel cell, LBBW analyst Gerhard Wolf draws parallels with other proven technologies: “I see it as similar to diesel development,” he says.
“It had not yet established itself in automobiles 30 years ago, but developed from farm machinery to trucks and, over time, into large automobiles and long-haul routes. I also hope that for the long-term fuel cell. “
However, Asian manufacturers are likely to significantly expand their leadership by then. In cooperation with the Japanese space agency, Toyota is already working on the concept of a vehicle to explore the surface of the Moon and Mars, with fuel cell propulsion and a range of around 10,000 kilometers per fill tank.
