Discussion on Cost Reduction of Fuel Cell Engineering Production

CONTENTS

01 Brief introduction to the development trend of hydrogen energy industry

02 Cost reduction of fuel cell engineering

03 Introduction to Harog Technology

04 Development direction of Harog Technology in hydrogen energy field

01 Three stages of hydrogen energy industry development

The first stage: Policy subsidy stage (2020-2024): In the subsidy stage, policies are the main impetus, and the localization process of the industrial chain continues to advance. At the end of the subsidy period, the production and sales of FCVs will reach about 100,000 vehicles, the market size will be hundreds of billions, and the cost of fuel cell systems will be reduced. Around 2 yuan/W, commercial vehicles are the main heavy-duty models.

The second stage: post-subsidy stage (after 2025): It is expected that around 2025, the hydrogen fuel cell industry will become more market-oriented, accelerate the replacement process in the field of heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles, and expand to passenger cars, around 2030 The vehicle market scale reaches one million vehicles, the market scale reaches trillions, and the system cost falls below 1 yuan/W.

Parity stage (commercialization): In the long-term, the cost of hydrogen fuel cell systems will continue to decline, and in addition to vehicles, application markets such as rail transit, ships, energy storage, and power generation will be gradually opened up, entering the parity stage. The cost reduction of the system has shifted from being dominated by "localization" to driven by "localization + scale".

02 Cost reduction route for fuel cells

Fuel Cell Composition and Cost Analysis

(Core component cost: membrane electrode + bipolar plate)

02-1 Membrane electrode design and material selection to reduce costs

1、 Maximum utilization of membrane electrode components (carbon paper, pem). When setting the flow field area of the bipolar plate and the active area of the membrane electrode, it is necessary to combine the current carbon paper and the width of the proton exchange membrane to maximize the utilization. Many designs do not take this factor into account, resulting in waste of materials and insufficient utilization. 80%, so that the procurement cost remains high.

For example: the length of the active area is 350mm (based on the width of carbon paper), and the width is 147mm (based on 1/2 of the width of pem). Such a length and width design allows 100% utilization of the two component materials.

2、Localization of materials (cost reduction of more than 50%)

Through the above design, whether it is to reduce the cost or shorten the lead time, it is of great help

02-2 Bipolar Plate Cost Composition and Analysis

Bipolar Plate Cost Analysis

Core points:

1、 Moderate cost of materials

2、 Tool and labor costs are positively correlated

Ways to reduce costs of bipolar plates

1. Reduce material loss by changing the material cutting process to achieve cost reduction (cost reduction gain 5%-10%)

2. Use multi-head automation equipment to improve production efficiency (production efficiency increased by 2-6 times)

3. Optimize the plate flow field design (20%-60% gain in cost reduction)

Reduce machining tool specifications and number of runners, reduce tool change frequency to reduce man-hours, optimize flow field feature design (groove width, ridge width), appropriately relax plate size tolerances to reduce costs, improve tool life and product qualification rate to achieve the goal of cost reduction

Ways to Reduce Cost of Bipolar Plates--Optimize and Simplify the Design of Bipolar Plates

1. The complexity of the design features directly affects the processing time. In the case of ensuring performance, try to simplify it as much as possible. If the tool of the same specification can complete the processing, the tool of the second specification will not be added. The fewer the number of grooves, the shorter the processing time ( The difference is 1-3 times the processing time)

2. The width of the groove and ridge affects the processing speed and yield. If the groove and ridge are too small, it is easy to break the knife and collapse the ridge during processing. Suggestions: groove width > 0.8mm;

ridge width > 0.5mm

3. Relevant size requirements are moderately loose (does not affect consistency and use effect)

Ways to reduce costs of bipolar plates--improve the processing efficiency of bipolar plates

  03 Introduction to Harog Technology

Zhejiang Harog Technology Co., Ltd. has a total investment of 500 million yuan. It is located in the National Green Manufacturing Industrial Park in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, with a standard factory building of 30,000 square meters. The company has strong research and development strength. The company has a number of graphite composite materials projects such as fuel cell business department, semiconductor and photovoltaic graphite business department, graphite thermal film business department and so on. There are more than 50 invention patents, and more than 20 patents are applied in the field of bipolar plates, covering micropore sealing materials, graphite substrates, processing technology, air tightness testing and other fields. The product has been verified by many customers that the performance of the whole stack of bipolar plates of Harog Technology has the smallest performance attenuation, and it ranks the best in multiple indicators such as ethylene glycol resistance, aging resistance, pressure resistance, and service life.

   2022 Bipolar plate business status

According to a third-party industry report, both production capacity and shipments rank first in the industry.

Company certification

04 Core indicators of Huarong's third-generation graphite bipolar plate:

04 Development direction of Harog in hydrogen energy

1.Under the premise of ensuring performance, develop high-performance and low-cost bipolar plates;

2. Research and develop carbon products in other fields for fuel cells;

3. The service life of the bipolar plates used for energy storage exceeds 80,000 hours;