[Opinion] Song Qiuling, Ministry of Finance: At present, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not ready for large-scale promotion

2019.09.09

From August 30 to September 1, "2019 China Automobile Industry Development (TeDA) International Forum" was held in Binhai New Area, Tianjin. Under the theme of "Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Opening up, Developing and Strengthening New Drivers of Growth", the forum discussed future policy trends, the new modernization of automobiles, deepening reform and strengthening cooperation between domestic and foreign brands, cutting-edge trends such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, and key and difficult issues related to fuel cells.

"On the whole, new-energy vehicles have seized historic opportunities and achieved remarkable results, but we should also be soberly aware that global manufacturing competition is intensifying and the external environment is deteriorating," said Song Qiuling, a top inspector at the Ministry of Finance's economic construction department, who spoke at the forum. There is still a gap between China's new energy vehicles and the international advanced level. Some deep-seated problems and contradictions are also beginning to emerge. New and old problems are intertwined and face many risks and challenges."
Since 2009, the Ministry of Finance, together with relevant departments, has been carrying out demonstration and promotion of new energy vehicles. In the past decade, the state has issued a series of supporting policies such as purchase subsidies, operation subsidies, infrastructure incentives, technological innovation and tax incentives, and constantly adjusted and improved the policies according to the changes in industrial development. In this process, China's new energy vehicle industry from scratch, and gradually grow.
However, Song Qiuling pointed out that at present, China's new energy vehicle industry is facing the test of the old and new problems interwoven.
First, there are wavering problems in the technical route.
Recently, some media one-sided interpretation that the country will no longer support pure electric vehicles, in favor of fuel cell vehicles, some industry enterprises also believe that China's new energy vehicle technology line wavering.
In fact, due to the lack of breakthroughs in the core technologies and components of fuel cell vehicles, inadequate infrastructure, lack of standards and regulations, and the absence of a hydrogen energy-management system, China is not ready for large-scale promotion and application, Song said. At the same time, fuel cell vehicles and pure electric vehicles have different technical features, so they are suitable for different scenarios. In the future, they should be complementary and co-existing, rather than replacing.
Second, the lack of endogenous power.
At present, the technical economy of China's new energy vehicles is not fully comparable with fuel vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles, and there is a certain gap between China's new energy vehicles and the advanced new energy vehicles in the world. The performance of power battery still cannot fully meet the demand, and some key components such as vehicle control chip and motor controller rely on import. With the trend of anti-globalization, there is the possibility of supply chain fracture. Some enterprises are blindly optimistic, while others lack confidence.
Third, infrastructure constraints.
Although the charging infrastructure develops rapidly, compared with the demand, on the one hand, the quantity is insufficient, on the other hand, the average utilization ratio is relatively low, the profit level of the industry is poor, the business model is not mature, and the convenience, rapidity and intelligence of charging are far from meeting the market demand.
Facing the new development stage of new energy vehicles, Song Qiuling put forward four suggestions: firm confidence, expand the scale of new energy vehicles market; Maintain composure and support the development of the new energy automobile industry; Problem - oriented, accelerate the improvement of the weak links in industrial development; Take a long-term perspective and improve the long-term market-based mechanism.
"On the one hand, we should complete the subsidy regression in accordance with the established policies. In this case, it is the general trend and industry consensus to shift from policy-driven to market-driven, which is in line with the development law and expectations. On the other hand, it is necessary to give full play to the continuous role of bonus points and other policies. The bonus point policy is a good way to promote the marketization of new energy vehicles. It is necessary to further improve and enhance the trading vitality of bonus points and do a good job in linking the bonus point policy and subsidy policy." Song qiuling said.