CEO Musk criticized hydrogen powered vehicles as "a very bad and foolish technology", becoming the focus of industry attention. In fact, since 2013, Musk has repeatedly publicly claimed that hydrogen powered vehicles have "little future" and are something that "fools only buy".

But almost at the same time, China officially sounded the horn of "hydrogen energy high-speed".

This year's government work report clearly proposes to accelerate the development of cutting-edge emerging hydrogen energy, new materials, innovative drugs and other industries. This is the first time hydrogen energy has been mentioned as an emerging energy source.

Ma Weichen, a Ph.D. and senior engineer from the Energy and Environment Research Institute of Zhejiang Development Planning Research Institute, believes that "currently, hydrogen energy vehicles are one of the most important areas for the development of the hydrogen energy industry and have relatively mature industrial applications." He introduced that the industry generally believes that China's hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have entered a critical period of development and acceleration.

So, why is China optimistic about Musk's painful criticism of this technology? Is hydrogen powered cars really as bad as Musk said? What are the advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen powered vehicles compared to electric vehicles? What is the secure development path for hydrogen powered vehicles in the future? Can it replace electric vehicles?

Policy implementation

Hydrogen energy is a renewable energy source that is abundant, clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient, and is known as the "ultimate energy of the 21st century". It mainly generates energy through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. During this process, hydrogen can release a large amount of energy through combustion, and the only byproduct produced by combustion is water, which does not produce any harmful gas emissions. Therefore, hydrogen is considered one of the representatives of clean energy.

Hydrogen has a high energy density and higher energy storage and transmission efficiency, making it an ideal energy storage and transmission method, with both energy and raw material properties. Hydrogen energy is an important lever for achieving large-scale decarbonization and carbon reduction in high carbon emission fields such as transportation, industry, and construction.

Let's explore the reasons why Musk criticized hydrogen powered cars. He believes that fuel cells are an "intelligence tax". Because using electricity to produce hydrogen and then using hydrogen to generate electricity to drive vehicles has low energy conversion efficiency, there is no need to make such a detour, and it is far less direct than using batteries to drive vehicles from electricity to electricity.

But hydrogen production is not limited to electrolysis of water. At present, industrial by-product hydrogen is an important source of hydrogen energy application and has good economic efficiency.

Musk also pointed out that "there are huge safety risks in the production, transportation, and storage of hydrogen," which was also a concern for many people in the early development of hydrogen powered vehicles.

This is indeed strictly followed in application. "Continuously entering underground parking lots and not using them in enclosed environments." Experts say that when the scene is changed from indoor to outdoor, "hydrogen is very light, and the escape speed is very fast. It is even safer to use it outdoors than traditional fuel powered cars."

On the other hand, technology is constantly breaking through through innovation and accumulation.

At present, China has formed a complete hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry chain covering various links such as production, storage, transportation, processing, and use, making it one of the most complete countries in the global fuel cell vehicle industry chain.

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