Energy and environment are two prominent problems facing the economic development of countries in the world today. As a clean energy, methanol not only promotes the diversified development of energy in my country and ensures the construction of energy security, but also is an important path to achieve the goal of "double carbon" in the transportation field.

"When foreign countries are still studying whether methanol can be burned as a fuel, there are already tens of thousands of methanol vehicles running around in China." Wei Anli, secretary general of the Expert Steering Committee for the Promotion and Application of Methanol Vehicles of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, "The efforts of more than 40 years and two generations , Today we can see and proudly say that China's methanol vehicles are at the forefront of the world."

Methanol vehicles have so many advantages, why haven't they been promoted?

my country's energy structure is rich in coal, little in gas, and poor in oil, and my country's dependence on foreign crude oil exceeds 70%. Gradually replacing the current petroleum-based fossil energy with renewable energy is a realistic choice to solve energy security problems, and it is also an effective energy framework to achieve carbon neutrality.

Methanol is liquid at normal temperature and pressure, and its molecular formula is CH₃OH. It contains oxygen, has a high octane number, and only contains one carbon. It can be used for energy conservation and emission reduction in transportation, sustainable energy development, carbon neutrality, energy security and energy diversification. From many perspectives, methanol is a very good energy choice.

In addition, methanol has excellent characteristics as a fuel, a wide range of applications, a wide range of sources, less pollution, and mature manufacturing technology. The development of methanol replacement and the promotion of methanol vehicles is a development path for transportation alternative energy that is very suitable for my country's national conditions. China is the largest producer of methanol in the world and the largest consumer of methanol fuel and methanol chemicals in the world. At present, my country's methanol accounts for 60% of the global production capacity and sales.

It is worth mentioning that methanol is the best liquid hydrogen carrier under normal temperature and pressure, which provides great convenience for its storage and transportation. Lin Xiaohu, vice president of Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group and general manager of the Green Ecological Development Division, believes that this feature allows methanol to be perfectly embedded in the mature and huge filling system, transmission and distribution system that has been established in the country, and does not need to be carried out. Any improvement saves huge costs. Methanol fuel is the best liquid energy in line with China's national conditions and can bring large-scale energy saving and emission reduction immediately.

Lin Xiaohu also revealed that compared with gasoline vehicles, methanol vehicles now have at least a 20% increase in the efficiency of combustion, and at the same time, the efficiency of carbon dioxide emission reduction is reduced by nearly 30%.

Methanol fuel and cars have so many advantages, why haven't they been promoted yet?

First of all, methanol is corrosive to a certain extent, which puts a test on the durability of auto parts and engines, so methanol vehicles must be manufactured or modified in a targeted manner. Secondly, methanol vehicles need to rely on methanol fuel filling stations. Except for a few pilot cities, it is not convenient to add alcohol to methanol vehicles. Third, methanol vehicles have not yet been classified into the category of new energy vehicles, and there are relatively few national support policies. Many manufacturers are not willing to invest costs and resources to develop methanol vehicles.

Geely opens up a new track in the field of methanol vehicles

Geely Auto is the first domestic auto company to respond to national policies and engage in methanol vehicle research, and is currently the only company in the world that mass-produces methanol vehicles.

On June 30, the world's first methanol hybrid car, Geely's fourth-generation Emgrand (parameters丨picture) alcohol-electric hybrid car was launched, and it was delivered in Guiyang simultaneously with the long-range methanol heavy truck that Geely is fully developing.

Lin Xiaohu believes that the mass production of methanol hybrid vehicles has two very important meanings: "First, Geely has chosen a brand new track. When others choose pure electric and hydrogen fuel, we also chose the new technology of alcohol-electric hybrid. Route. Second, we have launched a competition with unique new energy types and other new energy types. This is also what the national leaders said. To diversify energy in China, we must not take a single energy supply route.”

In terms of methanol vehicles, Geely insists on "taking both the passenger and the business". According to reports, methanol vehicles not only have excellent energy consumption and performance, but also have obvious advantages in cost of use. The pollutant emission and carbon emissions of the fourth-generation Emgrand alcohol-electric hybrid car are less than 5% and 3% of those of gasoline vehicles, the alcohol consumption per 100 kilometers is as low as 9.2L, and the travel cost per kilometer is less than 0.3 yuan. And 150 methanol heavy trucks can save at least about 9,000 tons of fuel a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 5,000 tons. Methanol heavy trucks save 1 yuan per kilometer than ordinary fuel vehicles.

"This means that the promotion of methanol vehicles in the future can gradually shift from policy promotion to market promotion, so that it can go a long way and go far." Lin Xiaohu said.

Geely has been in the methanol field for 17 years, invested more than 3 billion yuan, and obtained more than 200 technical patents. It has successfully developed more than 20 methanol-fueled commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, with nearly 30,000 vehicles in large-scale operation nationwide. The operating mileage is nearly 10 billion kilometers. At present, Geely methanol vehicle has gone to Europe to carry out demonstration operation in Denmark, and it is at the international leading level in terms of technology maturity and product launch scale.

In terms of technology, Geely has not only conquered many key technologies such as low-temperature cold start, methanol-resistant material development, special lubricant development, special additive development, emission control, methanol EFI control system, etc., but also has methanol vehicle R&D, manufacturing, The ability of the whole chain system of sales.

In 2021, Geely Auto released the "Smart Geely 2025" strategy. Among them, methanol fuel is one of Geely's key layouts in the field of clean energy. Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, has repeatedly proposed "methanol fuel and methanol vehicle promotion" at the two sessions to actively promote the realization of carbon neutrality in the transportation field.

Global methanol sees China, Chinese methanol sees Guiyang

Why did Geely choose Guiyang for the launch of the fourth-generation Emgrand Hybrid sedan?

Guizhou is the vanguard of the national methanol economic development. As the provincial capital of Guizhou, Guiyang has always been at the forefront of green energy reform and high-quality economic development.

As the first batch of methanol vehicle pilot areas, Guizhou has built the world's leading "Guiyang Model", established a complete methanol vehicle production, sales, service system and methanol fuel transportation and distribution supply guarantee system, and introduced taxis including taxis. A series of incentive measures have gradually formed an institutional system and management mechanism to ensure the operation of methanol vehicles.

Up to now, Guizhou Province has promoted 17,000 methanol vehicles through marketization, and more than 60 methanol fuel filling stations have been put into operation in the province, which consumes about 250,000 tons of methanol and replaces about 150,000 tons of gasoline. Among them, the number of methanol taxis in the provincial capital city of Guiyang ranks first in the world, and the number of methanol vehicles and methanol fuel filling stations ranks first in the country. Guiyang has become the city with the most successful, largest scale and widest coverage in the global methanol fuel and methanol vehicle marketization, and has thus formed a methanol economic industrial chain with taxis as the end.

Future Prospects of Methanol Vehicles

So, what does the success of the "Guiyang Model" mean for the future development of methanol vehicles?

Xiao Lu, a first-level researcher at the Guiyang Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, believes that there are still several major problems in the development of methanol vehicles: First, the supporting infrastructure is not yet in place. As a result, methanol vehicles are still basically a regional vehicle today, and mileage concerns exist to varying degrees. Second, there is no standard for methanol fuel and methanol fuel for vehicles. If this standard is not established, the promotion of methanol vehicles will be a relatively big obstacle. Third, methanol vehicles do not belong to new energy vehicles in the distribution of vehicles by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"Now the resistance to the promotion of methanol vehicles is our perception. Methanol vehicles are not yet considered new energy vehicles." According to Liu Ke, a foreign academician of the Australian National Academy of Engineering and dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Southern University of Science and Technology, green methanol should be listed in the country. The new energy goes, "the surface is green methanol, it is actually solar powered".

Liu Ke also said that he does not agree with throwing away the liquid infrastructure that has spent tens of trillions of dollars before building fast charging stations and hydrogen refueling stations. The cost of adding methanol to various gas stations in China is much cheaper than rebuilding fast charging stations and hydrogen refueling stations, and the layout of infrastructure can also be accelerated. Therefore, plug-in methanol hybrid is the direction that future cars should pay attention to.

Lin Xiaohu expects the country to introduce some policies on the road of methanol development, for example, let methanol cars hang up green cards first. "If we want to promote methanol vehicles across the country, we need to open up the industrial chain of alcohol-transportation-alcohol-storage-refilling. We hope to lead the way with lines, not points."

"From the perspective of global promotion, my personal point of view is collaboration, cooperation, and persistence. Collaborative cooperation involves industry and government, enterprises, operations, and injection. I insist that everyone complete it together." Wei Anli said.