Are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles safe?
A few days ago, an Uno-X hydrogen refueling station in Sandvika, Norway exploded, hitting the airbags of nearby cars and injuring two people. At the same time, because of the accident, Uno-X closed two other hydrogen refueling stations in Norway, and automakers Toyota and Hyundai have temporarily stopped sales of related fuel cell vehicles.
Due to the power of the explosion, the E18 road near the hydrogen refueling station was closed in both directions, and the E16 road in the Bjornegarden tunnel was also closed.
Previously, many people believed that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not only environmentally friendly, but also have faster hydrogen refueling, and are very promising to replace electric vehicles. However, this accident made everyone doubt the safety of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen can explode on its own, so isn't putting it in the car with an indefinite time bomb?
The structure of the FCV fuel cell vehicle can be divided into three parts, namely the hydrogen storage area in the rear, the battery and inverter in the middle, and the fuel cell and powertrain in the front. In fuel cell vehicles, the places where hydrogen is retained are mainly the battery stack and the hydrogen storage tank. Among them, the battery stack is only a place where the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen occurs, and does not store energy itself. Once hydrogen leakage is detected, the hydrogen/air can be quickly cut off.
Moreover, hydrogen is characterized by being very light, rising rapidly after leakage, and as long as there is good ventilation, there is generally no danger of explosion on open roads. Even in the event of combustion, fuel cell vehicles are relatively safe.
The results of a research experiment once showed that under the conditions of fuel leakage and fire respectively created by gasoline vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the oil leaked under the gasoline vehicle and caught fire in 3 seconds, while the hydrogen quickly rose above the vehicle and caught fire. One and a half minutes later, the open flame of the fuel cell vehicle has been extinguished, and the gasoline vehicle is on fire and eventually only the frame remains. Therefore, the safety of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles still needs to be popularized.
At present, the cause of the explosion of the hydrogen refueling station in Norway is still under investigation, and the fuel cell vehicle industry has just started, and there is still a lot of room for development and improvement. After all, if it takes 10 years for the pure-electric vehicle industry to see "do it", fuel cells may take even more.
