A Lot of Room for Potential Improvement in the Performance of Hydrogen Storage Tanks to further Increase Endurance

The endurance of new energy vehicles has always been the most concerned, which is due to the shortage of chargers and hydrogen refueling stations. Especially the rising star of hydrogen vehicles, whose endurance far exceeds that of lithium vehicles, is often cited as the most frequently cited selling point. With the improvement of hydrogen storage tanks, significant progress has been made, especially in the comparison between the two generations of Mirai, which has been in mass production for a long time. Toyota's second-generation FCV Mirai has a range of 850 kilometers, which is 30% more than the first generation. According to the research, 10% more is contributed by the use of siliconized carbon power source components; in addition, thanks to the chassis of the new Mirai adopting Toyota's new TNGA architecture, the hydrogen storage tank placed in the middle channel can be thicker, so that the volume of the tank can be increased to expand the storage capacity of hydrogen fuel, and with the improvement of the ratio of hydrogen storage quality to storage tank quality (quality efficiency), it has increased by 20%. The improvement of hydrogen storage tank technology significantly contributes to the improvement of endurance, which can be seen.

Toyoda Gosei announced a large-scale high-pressure hydrogen tank for hydrogen-powered hydrogen trucks in March 2023, using the technology accumulated in the development of Mirai hydrogen storage tanks to improve hydrogen storage performance. The first-generation hydrogen storage tank carbon fiber reinforced resin CFRP was wound with 27 layers to ensure that it can withstand the pressure of 700 Bar; using the improved winding method, the second-generation hydrogen storage tank was reduced to 25 layers, which can reduce the thickness and increase the productivity by 3 times, it has a significant effect on performance improvement and cost reduction. Originally, the ratio of hydrogen storage mass to tank mass (mass efficiency) of Mirai was 6.0 wt%, but the new model has been increased to 7.0 wt% so that the hydrogen capacity of the newly developed large-scale hydrogen storage tank is about eight times that of the smaller two of the three hydrogen storage tanks of the second generation of Mirai. Commercial trucks travel a long distance and need to make multiple deliveries. It is necessary to increase the capacity of the hydrogen storage tank to extend the endurance and shorten the filling time of hydrogen fuel. Equipped with two hydrogen storage tanks of different specifications, the shorter one is shortened due to the limited battery space in front, and its endurance is said to be about 300 kilometers. Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Co., Ltd. (CJPT), a joint venture between Toyota Motor and Isuzu Motors, has used the hydrogen storage tank in a hydrogen-powered light truck already on sale.


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