On June 30, the world's first methanol hybrid car - Geely's 4th generation Emgrand alcohol-electric hybrid car was officially launched in Guiyang, with the pure version priced at 129,800 yuan. The car is equipped with a new generation of 1.8L alcohol-electric hybrid engine and hybrid electric transmission. It consumes 9.2L per 100 kilometers and costs less than 30 cents per kilometer. It is said to be the most energy-saving, lowest carbon and most economical in its class. of hybrid cars.
Red Star Capital Bureau learned that after more than ten years of development, currently only Geely Automobile (00175.HK) and other individual car companies still insist on developing and promoting methanol automobile . As one of the subcategories of new energy vehicles, methanol vehicles have no public market sales and are not yet large-scale. They are only promoted in pilot areas of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and are mainly used in taxis and online car-hailing. Factors such as lack of policy support and inadequate infrastructure construction have restricted the development of methanol vehicles.
Industry insiders expressed to Red Star Capital Bureau that they are currently not optimistic about the C-end consumption of methanol vehicles. "If the methanol infrastructure cannot be rolled out across the country at the same time, the methanol vehicles launched by Geely will be difficult to operate outside the pilot cities. Taking into account the lag in infrastructure, even if methanol vehicles have the advantages of energy saving, emission reduction, and low vehicle cost, It is difficult to make up for the shortcomings of difficulty in replenishing energy. can refer to the range anxiety caused by insufficient charging infrastructure in early pure electric vehicles." He pointed out that the development of methanol vehicles still needs policy support and system construction.
Li Shufu has been fighting against methanol cars for 17 years
Since 17 years, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, has been "vocalizing" for methanol cars on various official and unofficial occasions. He has repeatedly proposed "methanol fuel and the promotion of methanol cars" at the two sessions of "suggestions.
This year’s two sessions of the National People’s Congress, Li Shufu, as a representative of the National People’s Congress, brought the “Recommendations on Promoting the Application of Methanol Vehicles to Support Carbon Neutralization in the Transportation Sector”, proposing to comprehensively promote the application of methanol vehicles, include methanol vehicles into the new energy vehicle development system and management scope, and give methanol The same policy support for automobiles and new energy vehicles will drive more companies to invest in the research and development of methanol vehicles and accelerate the realization of carbon neutrality in the transportation field.
It has been 13 years since he proposed the "Proposal on the Introduction of National Standards for Methanol Vehicles as soon as possible" in 2009.
However, even with Li Shufu’s promotion, methanol cars still did not cause any splash. Red Star Capital Bureau searched for methanol vehicles on the Internet, and almost all relevant news came from Geely. Geely is the only domestic car company currently active in the field of methanol vehicles.
It is understood that Geely is the first car company in China to put the research and development results of methanol vehicles into actual use scenarios, making methanol vehicles truly commercial.
html Since 2017, Geely has invested more than 3 billion yuan in total research and development in the field of methanol vehicles, has more than 200 technology patents, and has developed more than 20 models of methanol-fueled commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles. It is the only car company in the world to mass-produce methanol vehicles. Methanol The number of cars in the city reaches 27,000. At the same time, Geely is also the first methanol automobile manufacturer to go global, with test operation projects in Nordic countries such as Denmark and Iceland.In 2019, Geely launched the world's first M100 methanol heavy truck, and is currently the only domestic company to launch a methanol heavy truck. The market guide price of the car is 353,000-378,000 yuan, and the fuel cost can be saved by 18% compared with diesel.
The Geely 4th generation Emgrand electric hybrid sedan launched this time is the world's first methanol hybrid sedan, priced at 129,800 yuan. The new car is equipped with a new generation 1.8L alcohol-electric hybrid engine and hybrid electric drive, which has a 40% energy saving rate and can reduce carbon emissions by 42% compared to gasoline vehicles.
Methanol vehicles have obvious cost advantages.
As a clean energy source, methanol has the advantages of excellent fuel characteristics, wide application range, wide sources, less pollution, and mature production and manufacturing technology. China is currently the world's largest producer and user of methanol.
The current market price of methanol is 2,500-3,000 yuan/ton (1,266 liters of methanol per ton), equivalent to 1.97-2.37 yuan per liter of methanol. Based on the Geely Emgrand pure-electric hybrid car's alcohol consumption of 9.2L per 100 kilometers, the cost of methanol vehicles is 0.18-0.22 yuan/km. The current selling price of vehicle CNG (compressed natural gas) is about 3.6-4.5 yuan per cubic meter, and the vehicle cost is about 0.3-0.4 yuan/km.The price of domestic refined oil is 9-10 yuan/liter. Depending on the displacement, the vehicle cost is 0.45-1.8 yuan/km.
It can be seen that compared with fuel, methanol has a clear cost advantage, even lower than natural gas .
In fact, since 2012, the national level has issued documents to promote the pilot project of methanol vehicles.
From 2012 to 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology successively launched Jinzhong , Changzhi, Shanghai, Xi'an, Baoji , Yulin , Hanzhong , Lanzhou, Pingliang in five provinces and cities: Shanxi, Shanghai, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Guizhou. A total of 10 cities in Guiyang and Guiyang organized pilot projects for methanol vehicles.
On December 15, 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Adjusting the Relevant Requirements for the Access of Methanol Vehicle Products". The administrative management of methanol vehicles in my country has officially formed a standardized closed-loop management and entered the scope of national automobile industry management. The comprehensive marketization of methanol vehicles is on the agenda and entering the fast lane.
In March 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released 5 industry standards including the "Methanol Vehicle Fuel Consumption Test Method" to further improve the methanol vehicle standard system and promote the industrial development of methanol vehicles. In November 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green Development" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed that we should vigorously develop and promote new energy vehicles and promote the promotion of alternative fuel vehicles such as methanol vehicles.
In April 2022, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Science and Technology Innovation in the Transportation Sector", which believed that new energy sources such as methanol and clean energy should be promoted around the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Applications.
Why is it difficult to promote methanol vehicles?
Policies are blowing frequently and cost advantages are obvious. However, methanol vehicles have not been promoted on a large scale. According to
data, my country's new energy vehicle sales reached 3.521 million units in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times, and has ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years. As one of the subdivisions of new energy vehicles, methanol vehicles have no public market sales and have not yet reached scale. Liu Hao, an independent automotive analyst at
, told Red Star Capital Bureau that an important reason why it is difficult to promote methanol vehicles is that, like pure electric vehicles, methanol vehicles require the laying of a large amount of infrastructure and the construction of a transportation and storage management system. Due to factors such as lack of policy support at the national level, imperfect infrastructure such as methanol fuel storage and transportation and distribution systems, and methanol filling stations, the large-scale promotion of methanol vehicles has been restricted.
In addition, Liu Hao said that since my country's new energy development route is mainly electrification and policy resources are tilted towards electric vehicles, companies have no motivation and spare capacity to get involved in methanol fuel and methanol vehicles. For local governments and car companies, electric vehicles and methanol vehicles are competitors.
Since the 9-year pilot program of methanol vehicles, it is still mainly promoted in the above-mentioned pilot provinces and cities, and has not entered the national market, and most of them are taxis and online ride-hailing vehicles.
takes Guizhou as an example. In 2015, Guizhou Province was included in the "Four Provinces and One City" methanol vehicle pilot list by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and launched a three-year methanol vehicle pilot project. It is currently the province with the largest scale of methanol vehicle promotion and application. However, so far, less than 70 methanol fuel filling stations have been put into operation in Guizhou Province, and 17,000 methanol vehicles have been promoted in a market-based manner. The annual methanol consumption is about 250,000 tons, replacing about 150,000 tons of gasoline.
Some consumers told Red Star Capital Bureau that what they are most concerned about is whether it is convenient to use methanol vehicles? Where to add methanol? "If the infrastructure is not solved, we will not consider buying it."
"If the methanol infrastructure cannot be rolled out across the country at the same time, then the methanol vehicles launched by Geely will be difficult to operate outside the pilot cities. Considering the lag in infrastructure, even if methanol vehicles are energy-saving Advantages such as emission reduction and low vehicle costs cannot make up for the difficulty of replenishing energy," Liu Hao pointed out. "You can refer to the range anxiety caused by insufficient charging infrastructure in early pure electric vehicles. "
Although the development of methanol vehicles. There is still a long way to go, but industry players remain confident.
Dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Southern University of Science and Technology Liu Ke said that assuming that electric vehicles develop at the current rate, the prices of cobalt, lithium and nickel will inevitably rise around the world."So continuing to pursue the pure electric path will not work. Methanol is the only liquid fuel that can achieve carbon neutrality, and green methanol is the lowest-cost path for China to achieve carbon neutrality."
Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo
editor Yu Dongmei
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