Honda officially released its hydrogen energy business strategy and will sell fuel cell systems externally

On February 2, Beijing time, Honda held a press conference on the hydrogen energy business strategic plan .

Towards a carbon-neutral society, Honda actively expands the application of hydrogen energy

Committed to further upgrading the fuel cell system that is the core of the hydrogen energy business, the next-generation fuel cell system jointly developed by Honda and General Motors will strive to double the durability and reduce the cost to one-third. In addition, Honda will continue to promote basic research, and strive to further double the durability and halve the cost.

Fuel cell system as the core technology has been further upgraded

Position the four major fields of fuel cell vehicles (FCEV), commercial vehicles, stationary power supplies, and construction machinery as the core application fields of fuel cell systems, and actively cooperate with other companies. Especially in the field of commercial vehicles, cooperate with Isuzu Motors to research fuel cell heavy-duty trucks, and cooperate with Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. to start technical verification of the next-generation fuel cell system in the field of commercial vehicles.

FCEVs equipped with a next-generation fuel cell system jointly developed with General Motors will be launched in North America and Japan in 2024 . In general, the main challenges in the application and promotion of fuel cell systems come from cost and durability.

To this end, the next-generation fuel cell system utilizes the experience and economies of scale of both parties to apply innovative materials to electrodes, improve cell sealing structures, simplify auxiliary structures, and increase productivity. Compared with the battery system, the cost is reduced to one-third. Due to the use of corrosion-resistant materials and the application of deterioration control technology, the durability has been doubled and the low-temperature resistance has also been greatly improved.

Started external sales of fuel cell systems and expanded application fields

It is planned to start selling 2,000 sets of fuel cell systems each year in the mid-2020s, gradually expand sales, and strive to sell 60,000 sets per year by 2030, and hundreds of thousands of sets per year by the second half of the 2030s.

FCEVs:

Honda plans to launch a new FCEV in North America and Japan in 2024, based on the CR-V launched in North America last year, and equipped with a next-generation fuel cell system. In addition to the characteristics of FCEV such as short charging time and long driving distance, the plug-in function also makes it have the convenience of pure electric vehicles, and can be charged without leaving the house.

Commercial vehicle:

Joint research with Isuzu Motors on fuel cell heavy-duty trucks in Japan, and plans to conduct road demonstration tests in 2023. In China, starting from January 2023, Honda and Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. will jointly launch technical verification of a new generation of fuel cell systems in the field of commercial vehicles in Hubei Province.

Fixed power supply:

In recent years, due to the expansion of cloud services and big data applications, the power required by data centers has increased sharply. From the perspective of BCP (Business Continuity Planning: Business Continuity Planning), the demand for emergency power is also increasing. Therefore, , Honda will start from a clean and quiet emergency power supply, and propose to promote the fuel cell system in the field of power generation.

Honda first installed a stationary power supply of about 500kW at the site of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., a local subsidiary in California, USA. This power supply reuses the fuel cell system of “CLARITY FUEL CELL”. Started demonstration operation as an emergency power source for data centers. This is then applied to Honda’s factories and data centers around the world in an effort to reduce Honda’s own greenhouse gas emissions.

Build a hydrogen energy ecosystem

So far, Honda has assisted in the expansion of the hydrogen refueling station network by participating in the establishment of Japan Hydrogen Refueling Station Network (JHyM) and providing support in North America to Shell and FirstElement Fuel, which are engaged in hydrogen refueling station business.

In the future, as a new field, Honda will actively promote the construction of a hydrogen energy ecosystem centered on stationary power sources and starting from places where hydrogen energy is needed, and actively participate in projects organized by the government and local governments that use ports and other large-scale imports of hydrogen. projects and establish partnerships with related companies.

In Japan, in order to build a hydrogen energy ecosystem, Honda has started discussions with Marubeni Corporation and Iwatani Sangyo Co., Ltd. on hydrogen energy supply and the introduction of commercial vehicles ; in Europe, Honda is planning to combine renewable energy and hydrogen energy Empirical experiments on the construction of energy ecosystems