Alternative Drives for Heavy Trucks Will Methanol-Hydrogen Drives Soon Be on the Road in China?

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In China, a technology is being tested that is so new that legislators have not yet officially classified it as a New Energy Vehicle, or NEV for short. The "methanol-hydrogen-electric drive", which two Chinese manufacturers have just developed for heavy trucks, works like a range extender.

The heavy-duty truck is the product of a collaboration between Farizon, the commercial vehicle division of the Geely Group, and vehicle manufacturer Jinbei. One of the first models, the Farizon Xinghan G super-electric tractor, was presented to Chinese experts just a few days ago.

No NEV Alternative for Diesel Trucks yet

To understand how it works, you have to start with the initial idea. Geely and Farizon have been building methanol-powered vehicles for many years, as well as vehicles with fuel cells that run on hydrogen. And, of course, they also build purely electric trucks. All of these three technological routes fall into the category of New Electric Vehicles (NEVs), which are being promoted by the Beijing government to reduce emissions and slow down climate change.

However, in the cold north of China, where winter temperatures often drop to minus twenty degrees Celsius or even lower, none of these technologies has yet been able to really establish itself as a replacement for traditional diesel or gasoline-powered commercial vehicles.

There are many reasons for this. Either the electric cars won't start because it's too cold. Or the infrastructure for recharging the hydrogen tanks for vehicles with fuel cells is not developed well enough. Or there are reservations about the direct combustion of methanol. "The penetration rate of NEV in Northeast China was only 1.8 percent in 2023, far below the national average," writes the China Daily. The cold is the main reason why this region is not being electrified as quickly as other parts of the People's Republic.

Methanol in the Tank

In the new route called "methanol-hydrogen-electric", the tank of the commercial vehicles is not filled with hydrogen, but with liquid methanol, which is easier to transport. However, this is not used to power an engine directly, but is converted into hydrogen in the vehicle itself when required. This demand only arises when the battery that supplies the truck's electric drive with power is empty. In this respect, it is a new type of range extender (eREV technology). The eREV technology is already very popular in China for passenger cars, but works with gasoline.

The hydrogen produced under the hood of the new trucks is then converted into electricity as required with the help of a fuel cell, which can be used to recharge the battery while driving, i.e. independently of charging stations. With one tank of fuel, a Farizon Xinghan G has a combined range of 1,500 kilometers (approx. 932 miles). According to the manufacturers, the thermal efficiency of the entire system is around 50 percent One liter of methanol can generate 2.2 kW of electricity, they say.

Instead of just methanol, the tank of these new commercial vehicles can also be filled with a mixture of methanol and gasoline, in various mixing ratios.

Battery Exchange Stations in Use

The vehicles are equipped with a Shidai Qiji battery installed in the floor with a capacity of 513 kWh, which can be exchanged for a full battery at a battery exchange station as soon as it is empty. The battery alone has a range of 350 kilometers. The eDrive developed by the two manufacturers themselves has an output equivalent to 720 hp.

Farizon and Jinbei are convinced that there is a market for their invention, certainly in the cold north-east of China. However, two car models with such a methanol-hydrogen-electric drive system are also due to be launched on the Chinese market this year, an SUV and a sedan.

At the Asian Winter Games, which took place this winter in Harbin in the freezing cold north-east of China, Farizon and Jinbei have already demonstrated buses with their environmentally friendly new technology, which only emits water vapor from the exhaust—just like vehicles with traditional fuel cells.

Production of Methanol

Anyone looking at the conversions that take place before the e-drive of a Farizon Xinghan G starts moving could easily dismiss the method as too complicated. Methanol has recently been produced in China in a large plant with an annual capacity of 110,000 tons in Henan province, in which both the Geely Holding Group and the Shuncheng Group have invested.

There, hydrogen, which is a by-product of the Shuncheng coke ovens, is converted into methanol using captured carbon dioxide. There are also already completely "green" plants that produce methanol using solar or wind power via electrolysis. Either way, the methanol is then converted back into hydrogen in the vehicles of this new type.

The engineers at Farizon and Jin point out that transporting liquid methanol is much easier than transporting hydrogen. And they point to the other technical problems that have prevented the spread of existing alternative drives.

Retrofitting Filling Stations Quickly

Existing filling stations throughout the country can be quickly and cost-effectively retrofitted or converted for methanol. This would make environmentally friendly logistics much quicker and more cost-efficient than waiting for the expansion of the network of hydrogen filling stations that is currently being worked on in China.

The combined methanol-hydrogen-electric drives will then be cheaper to run than traditional combustion engines—and they will be completely climate-neutral on the road, emitting no greenhouse gases and being as clean as other vehicles with electric drives. From a Chinese perspective, methanol as a fuel also has the advantage that it does not have to be imported from abroad like oil. 60 percent of all methanol in the world is already produced in the People's Republic. "In the era of global competition for new energies, the development of multiple energy sources and multiple technical routes is a fundamental guarantee for energy security," writes the official news agency Xinhua about the new type of drive from Farizon and Jinbei. "Green methanol can be described as China's oil," Xinhua continues.

Last year, the new trucks from Farizon and Jinbei were already integrated into the vehicle fleets of companies in 12 Chinese provinces and 40 cities. From the fourth quarter of this year, according to Geely, the new commercial vehicles will also be available for private customers, including the two passenger car models. However, in order to give customers the choice of technology, Farizon and Jinbei are offering their trucks as methanol-hydrogen-powered models, as well as pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. (se)

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