The research on the application of hydrogen energy in construction machinery is not a new topic, but the application of hydrogen energy in construction machinery is still rare. Recently, Liebherr and JCB, the well-known foreign construction machinery, have released hydrogen energy related products during the BMW exhibition. Therefore, we have made a general tracking summary of the current hydrogen energy engineering machinery products.
1、 Current product distribution
1. Excavator
（1）闯颁叠
In July 2020, JCB took the lead in launching the industry's first hydrogen powered 22t excavator 220X, which is powered by hydrogen fuel cell.
Although JCB hydrogen excavator uses hydrogen fuel cell, and most of its currently released hydrogen energy products are hydrogen fuel cell powered, the main direction of its subsequent research and development is hydrogen burning engines. It believes that engines are more suitable than fuel cell systems in off road working scenarios.
In 2021, JCB released a hydrogen fueled piston engine based on JCB's existing Diesel max448 four cylinder engine.
(2) Liebherr
In the 2022 BMW Germany Exhibition, Liebherr exhibited its first hydrogen powered 50 ton crawler excavator R9XX H2, which was developed by Liebherr France SAS in Colmar, France.
The machine is powered by H966 hydrogen internal combustion engine produced by Liebherr Machines Bullet SA, the engine technology center of Liebherr Group in Switzerland.
H966 hydrogen internal combustion engine of R9XX H2 has six cylinders and uses port fuel injection (PFI). Its Liebherr uses direct injection (DI) in its hydrogen engine.
(3) Modern
It was previously reported that in March 2020, Hyundai Mobius, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Construction Machinery announced the joint development of the world's first hydrogen powered construction machinery and equipment, and the target date for mass production and distribution was 2023.
However, two years later, no relevant latest news was released, and the progress is unknown.
2. Loader
(1) Shanxi Gerun
On July 11, 2022, the first 50 type GRSD958HEV heavy-duty hydrogen loader in China was successfully tested and launched in the New Energy Industrial Park of New Materials and High end Equipment Industrial Park in Xinjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone.
It is understood that the loader was jointly developed by Shanxi Gerun Times and Shenzhen Xiongtao. It is the main tonnage of the heavy loader market, with a rated load of 5t and 840L hydrogen bottles. Each hydrogenation takes less than 8min, and it can last for 6h. It is a hydrogen fuel cell system.
(2) Brayton
On January 18, 2011, Brayton released a hydrogen electric hybrid large tonnage loader in Shanghai Lingang.
The rated load of the vehicle is ≥ 5t, the maximum speed is ≥ 40km/h, the traction force is ≥ 165kN, the maximum digging force is ≥ 170kN, the maximum climbing gradient is ≥ 25 °, the boom lifting time is ≤ 6s, the hydrogen fuel cell is ≥ 45kW, the endurance is ≥ 5h, and the hydrogenation time is ≤ 5min.
Compared with the popularity of electric loaders, hydrogen loaders can be said to have almost no sense of existence, and the reason is very simple. The hydrogen loaders can do what the hydrogen loaders can do, and the electric loaders can do even better. The applicability of electric loaders is wider. Before the large-scale application of hydrogen energy, the hydrogen loaders may really only be suitable for customized use in relevant scenes with abundant hydrogen energy and convenient hydrogenation.
3. Excavator loader
In 2021, JCB will release a hydrogen powered excavator loader.
4. Telescopic boom forklift
In 2021, JCB will release the prototype of Loadall telescopic arm forklift.
5. Forklift
(1) New hydrogen power
On April 22, 2022, Tianjin New Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. released a hydrogen+5G unmanned 3t forklift.
In May 2020, Tianjin New Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. released the first 3.5t hydrogen fuel cell forklift in China.
(2) Resultant force
On the morning of November 16, the launching ceremony of Yingfeiteng Monalisa hydrogen forklift project was held in Foshan, Guangdong. The first batch of 5 3t hydrogen fuel cell forklift trucks in Anhui Heli were successfully delivered for use, becoming the first hydrogen energy forklift application demonstration project in Guangdong hydrogen energy demonstration zone.
6. Unmanned transport vehicle
On April 22, 2022, Tianjin New Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. released a hydrogen+5G unmanned 5t unmanned transport vehicle
7. Heavy truck
(1) Mercedes Benz
On September 19, 2022, Mercedes Benz released a GenH2 liquid hydrogen fuel truck. In 2020, Mercedes Benz will release the dual fuel cell concept car of Mercedes Benz GenH2.
The car uses two motors, with a maximum output power of 660kW (898 horsepower) and a peak torque of 4142N · m.
(2) XCMG dump truck
In November 2020, XCMG unveiled the first hydrogen fuel cell residue truck at BMW Shanghai. The length, width and height of the dump truck are respectively 9600mm/2550mm/3500mm; The curb weight/total mass of the vehicle is 18000kg/31000kg respectively; In terms of power, it is equipped with seven 140L hydrogen storage tanks, with the rated power and peak power of 90kW/100kW respectively, and the range of hydrogen refueling reaches 300km.
(3) Zoomlion Dust Suppression Vehicle
In December 2020, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. released the world's first hydrogen fuel dust suppression vehicle in Hubei. It is reported that this hydrogen fuel dust suppression vehicle is supported by Hubei Haiyi Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd., with 15 minutes of hydrogenation, a range of more than 400 km, and a continuous environmental sanitation operation of 5 hours.
(4) Hydrogen Road Technology
In the first half of 2022, HYTU Technology will cooperate with Dongfeng Motor Corporation on a 49t heavy truck tractor, which is equipped with a 125kW fuel cell system and has a range of 420km. Afterwards, the heavy truck was delivered to Hebei Iron and Steel Plant for task operation, and it is running well at present.
(5) Sany
On August 15, the first hydrogen residue truck in Shanghai jointly built by Shanghai Hydrogen Energy and Sany Heavy Industries was released in the new area near the port.
Like the electric application, hydrogen energy is also the first to be used in the field of heavy trucks, with more applications. There are relatively more heavy truck products, as well as more bus products, which is not the focus of our attention.
8. Tower crane
In 2020, RKB developed the first tower crane powered by hydrogen. The crane is equipped with a separate hydrogen fuel cell to provide power. At present, only part of the crane uses the power provided by hydrogen fuel cells, and the rest does not use hydrogen energy.
9. Mixer truck
At the beginning of 2021, Sany hydrogen fuel cell engineering vehicle and the world's first fuel cell mixer will be launched. This fuel cell mixer uses a high-power stack system, with energy conversion efficiency up to more than 50%; At the same time, 1680L large capacity hydrogen cylinder set is matched, and the endurance mileage under constant speed conditions reaches 500km.
10 Mobile hydrogenation machine
On October 21, 2022, JCB released the first mobile hydrogenation machine in the industry to realize rapid hydrogenation for on-site equipment.
2、 Differences between hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen engine
Both hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engine use hydrogen energy as fuel, so what's the difference between the two?
Hydrogen fuel cell
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles first have fuel cells, hydrogen storage tanks and other components. Secondly, its chassis structure is similar to that of electric vehicles, equipped with motor, electric control and battery three electric system components.
The hydrogen fuel cell mainly adopts proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology, in which the fuel cell is equivalent to an energy conversion device, which relies on the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen in the hydrogen fuel cell stack to generate electric energy for driving. The generated electric energy will directly drive the motor after passing through the controller, inverter and other groups of electrical components to provide kinetic energy for the vehicle.
In addition to the disadvantages faced by hydrogen energy, the biggest disadvantage of the hydrogen fuel cell route is the high manufacturing cost, which leads to the high price of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which cannot be accepted by ordinary users.
Hydrogen internal combustion engine
The main structure is similar to the diesel engine, and the parts between them are extremely versatile. Taking the fuel agnostic platform recently launched by Cummins as an example, up to 80% of the components between the hydrogen internal combustion engine and the diesel engine can be used universally. Replacing the engine cylinder head, fuel injection system, engine computer board and other components can convert diesel into hydrogen.
The technical circuit of hydrogen internal combustion engine will not affect the production chain of enterprises, and can effectively reduce manufacturing costs. In addition, the technology of hydrogen internal combustion engine is also close to that of diesel engine, and mainstream manufacturers have sufficient R&D conditions for technology accumulation, which can be popularized and popularized relatively quickly.
This is also the route chosen by Cummins, Weichai and other old brand engine enterprises.
3、 Conclusion
Although construction machinery manufacturers have made many attempts in the application of hydrogen energy, we believe that this is still just some attempts.
Hydrogen energy is a secondary energy. At present, hydrogen energy is mainly supplied by coal, industrial by-product, natural gas and electrolytic water.
Data shows that in 2020, the global production of pure hydrogen from natural gas (methane) will account for 43.8%, only 13.4% of hydrogen will be produced from coal, and less than 1% of hydrogen will be produced from electrolytic water.
Due to the lack of natural gas resources in China, most of them rely on imports, so the share of hydrogen production from natural gas is not high. China is rich in coal resources, and its coal output accounts for 48% of the global total. Therefore, China's hydrogen energy source is mainly coal due to its resource endowment, and coal based hydrogen production technology is currently the mainstream hydrogen production technology in China.
According to the public data of China Coal Industry Association, in 2020, China's hydrogen production will exceed 25 million tons, of which 62% will be produced from coal, 19% from natural gas, 18% from industrial by-products, and about 1% from electrolytic water.
Based on the above information, we can see that it is not realistic for hydrogen energy to replace fossil energy, because hydrogen energy itself is only a secondary product of fossil energy. First of all, from the perspective of energy, the energy status of hydrogen energy can only be said to be equal to that of fuel oil; Secondly, from the perspective of environmental protection, electric energy equipment is more environmentally friendly and more applicable than hydrogen equipment, and hydrogen equipment cannot replace electric energy equipment.
Therefore, as a small route, it is the most reliable application scenario to consume industrial by-product hydrogen.
Of course, if one day, the advantages and cost-effectiveness of hydrogen production from fossil energy greatly exceed that of fossil fuel oil, and the key material problem of hydrogen fuel cell is solved, then it is possible to replace fuel equipment on a large scale.
