In a recent interview by the Industry City, LEI Xianzhang, Member of the Acatech-National Academy of Science and Engineering and Chief Scientist of Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, and Director of the Tianfu New Energy Institute and Chief Scientist for Carbon Neutrality at Southwest Petroleum University, shared his insights from a global perspective on the current stage of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in China, the country's unique development advantages in this regard and potential ways for Sichuan Province, a clean energy powerhouse, to win opportunities in competition. Below is the full content of the coverage.
Toyota touts its solid-state batteries could give 932-mile range with 10-minute charging. The Chinese Academy of Sciences announced a crucial breakthrough in sulfide soft-pack battery stacking technology, among others. Both domestic and international solid-state battery industries have seen significant technological progress, drawing attention from domestic and overseas markets.
As a next-generation battery product highly regarded in the global scientific community, solid-state batteries have long been a focal point for major battery and EV manufacturers as well as capital markets. In this groundswell of bottom-up technological innovation, regions are implementing unique strategies to gain a developmental edge in the next round of technological competition. As a rising star within the solid-state battery family, SOFCs, representing a new generation of batteries with power generation capabilities, are gradually coming into the public domain. From a global perspective, what stage is China's SOFC technology at? What are the country's unique development advantages in this regard and what are the potential ways for Sichuan Province, a clean energy powerhouse, to win opportunities in competition. To address these questions, the Industry City gave an exclusive interview with LEI Xianzhang, Member of the Acatech-National Academy of Science and Engineering and Chief Scientist of Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, and Director of the Tianfu New Energy Institute and Chief Scientist for Carbon Neutrality at Southwest Petroleum University.
LEI pointed out that building upon the success of lithium batteries, China has paved a new path for new energy vehicles to replace traditional fuel vehicles, offering a valuable reference for the development of the next generation of battery industries. Given the developmental gap between China's SOFC sector and that of developed regions like Europe, the United States, and Japan, China's industry chain is still in its infancy. Therefore, it is essential to bolster policy support, facilitate technology introduction, absorption, independent innovation, and continuous iteration to forge a distinctive path for latecomer industrial development with Chinese characteristics.
LEI believes that since most existing SOFC technologies originated from universities and traditional research institutes, scientific innovation oriented at the very first beginning, durability, stability, and sustainability for industrial application were overlooked. Consequently, few can get industrialized. Given the situation, it is crucial for regions to build open channels and guide technological innovation to shift from academic innovation back to industrialization.
Prospects for SOFC Applications
Enabling Substitution with Clean and Low-Carbon Energy
As a disruptive technology, what are the potential application scenarios for SOFCs? How will they drive the iterative upgrade of upstream and downstream industry chains?
LEI Xianzhang: Unlike traditional batteries used for charging, discharging and energy storage, SOFCs are devices converting various forms of storable energy into electrical energy. They feature higher energy utilization efficiency, and the heat generated during their use can be recycled, making their long-term stable operation highly cost-effective. This will bring about significant technological innovation and development in the fields of energy and power, electric vehicles, and industrial power supply.
Looking further into the future, SOFCs are not only intended for vehicles. Once deployed on a large scale, they can serve as an alternative to coal-fired power plants for electricity generation. We envision a future when electrical energy is derived from sunlight, wind, and water, and through disruptive technologies, this electrical energy can be converted and stored stably over extended periods. When sunlight, wind, and water are insufficient, SOFCs, as substitutes for coal-fired power plants, can convert stored energy into electricity. Therefore, they can act as a fundamentally reliable power supply for human and achieve zero-carbon development across the entire power energy industry chain. This process will revolutionize the battery industry, hydrogen energy industry, power industry, and mineral resource industry by replacing non-renewable energy sources such as oil, natural gas, and coal with clean, low-carbon, and renewable energy. Ultimately, the resource crisis facing human existence can be addressed, helping realize the sustainable development of human society.
Could you introduce how SOFCs develop in various countries and the characteristics they present?
LEI Xianzhang: Globally, long-established Fortune 500 companies in Japan and South Korea, such as Toyota, Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, Kyocera, and Samsung, have made substantial investments in the R&D of SOFCs for an extended period, and finished diverse application products and scenarios. In addition to SOFC vehicles, Japan has also powered its residential heat and power combined systems with SOFCs, addressing power and heating needs for millions of independent households. In the United States, several technology startups have placed their bets on SOFCs. Such cells have passed industrial tests for use in commercial vehicles and small-scale production of such vehicles has been commenced. The SOFC industry in Europe has also accumulated a wealth of achievements. Some startups, for example, have consistently secured venture capital funding. With breakthroughs in durability and stability, there have been advancements from the single product to industrial applications.
China's new battery sector has just started to grow over the last decade. Over the last five years, the global patent applications related to solid-state batteries from China have increased at an average annual rate of 20.8%, ranking first in the world by its growth rate. Notably, proton exchange membrane fuel cells have become a key focus for various domestic technology R&D funding. Under such a situation, a large number of research achievements are able to see rapid transformation. Currently, SOFC R&D in China is still primarily under the domain of universities and research institutes. Advanced achievements in multiple components have been made, some meeting world-leading standards. China's SOFC industry chain is making steady improvement from materials, equipment manufacturing to battery production, etc. Nearly a hundred domestic companies have engaged in the industry, indicating a rapid development trend for the entire sector. However, at present, there are few leading companies with comprehensive capabilities in SOFC solutions, integration, and stable commercialization. Most companies get involved as component suppliers. Therefore, the construction of the industry chain is still in its early stages.
Overtaking
Exploring a distinctive path for latecomer industrial development with Chinese characteristics
To date, there have been countries setting clear industrialization goals for SOFCs. To accelerate China’s pace in SOFC commercialization, what steps are yet to be taken?
LEI Xianzhang: From the perspective of industrialization, it is a common practice of foreign countries to start the industry with small-scale application demonstration scenarios, by which to continuously iterate technology, reduce costs, improve designs, and optimize materials and eventually build mature products.
Despite the systematic layout of SOFC patents in China, the industrialization path is still confronted with numerous challenges. Drawing on the experience and lessons from Europe, the United States, and Japan in SOFC development, we should identify our shortcomings in material preparation, process development, and reliability. Particularly, the majority of China's SOFC technologies originates from original innovation in universities. Universities, and traditional research teams put their emphasis on innovative indicators, scientific awards, papers, and patents. Achievements from such teams perform exceptionally well in the laboratory. However, industrial durability, stability, and sustainability are ill-considered, which are essential elements for mature products. As a result, few are eligible for industrialization, leaving the majority stagnating in the small-scale demonstration verification stages.
Therefore, despite substantial investment in China's SOFC industry, the path from achievements to products and industrialization has not been well established. Future efforts should really get back to the product itself. Problems in material, structure, cost, customer demand, stability, durability, etc should all be solved according to the actual application scenarios. In other words, a shift from academic innovation to industrialization should be promoted.
Could you envision the commercialization path of SOFCs in China? How could we build unique competitive advantages based on previous ones?
LEI Xianzhang: Building upon the success of lithium batteries, China has paved a new path for new energy vehicles to replace traditional fuel vehicles, offering a valuable reference for the development of the next generation of battery industries. This involves policy guidance, financial subsidies, multi-stakeholder participation, accelerated achievement transformation, application demonstrations, and iterative testing, all culminating in the incubation of a multitude of competitive products on the market.
Given the developmental gap between China's SOFC sector and developed regions like Europe, the United States, and Japan, the realistic path to commercialization should draw upon China's experience in utilizing "latecomer advantages". This way is expected to help forge a distinctive path for latecomer industrial development with Chinese characteristics. In the initial stages, there should be financial support and preferential policies in place to bring multi-stakeholder’s input, carry out small-scale demonstration applications, and test and perfect the commercial viability of the first-generation products. With the gradual maturation and amplification of industrial indicators, it can be largely promoted. Meanwhile, we should also keep an eye on global market development and actively grab the global market share relying on our domestic whole-industry-chain cost-efficiency merit.
Moreover, as lithium batteries are predominant in the field of new energy passenger vehicles, the development of SOFC applications in China should be targeted at the storage and utilization of clean and low-carbon energy, rather than a replacement for lithium batteries. China's photovoltaic and wind power industries are getting mature. There are many places suitable for large-scale construction of clean energy bases in the western regions. However, issues related to the failure to use new energy electricity and the challenges in deployment are becoming increasingly prominent, which cannot be fundamentally addressed by conventional solutions. We can integrate SOFCs with future grids predominantly powered by new energy sources, enable the substitution with clean and low-carbon energy, and thus form the greatest advantage for the development of SOFCs in China.
Potential breakthroughs in Chengdu
Emphasizing engineer teams over hot fields
With the expansion of automotive and energy storage industries in Chengdu, SOFCs emerge as a potential breakthrough. What approach should Chengdu take to deeply engage in this industrial competition?
LEI Xianzhang: Sichuan Province is a well-established clean energy powerhouse, especially in industries such as lithium batteries. Chengdu, as a crucial economic hub in the west, boasts a strong industrial base and an innovative ecosystem, supporting the accelerated development of the SOFC industry and the promotion of emerging industries.
There are two suggestions for Chengdu to participate in the industrialization competition of SOFCs:
Firstly, it is better not to scramble for hot fields. Currently, it is a prevailing trend in China that following the success of early-stage lithium batteries, there is a high expectation for the next generation of batteries. This leads to a rush of projects in various regions. In fact, most investors would finally fail to get the desired results as there are still key issues in industrialization and productization. Amid hot fields, even if we can achieve industrialization eventually, profits tend to diminish due to the saturation of the field. As a "latecomer" in the new battery sector, it is recommended that Chengdu should support differentiated projects with targeted investment, which are highly mature abroad but have not drawn much attention at home.
Secondly, we can distinguish between the scientific and engineer teams in the establishment of an innovation team. This can ensure that a dedicated engineer team addresses industrialization challenges. Scientist teams generally focus on innovative fundamental research, and they have limited knowledge of the market and insufficient productization capabilities. However, engineer teams, involved in the market for a long term, possess extensive experience in integrating innovative technologies and processing. They are adept in adopting and transforming original innovations from multiple scientific teams into a single product in a rapid, cost-effective and simple manner. In this regard, Chengdu should prioritize engineer teams with industrial backgrounds and experience, and steer product-oriented innovation. Through rapid iterations, this will propel the maturation of core technologies, and ultimately help the city secure a leading position in the market.
Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory focuses on key technology researches in the green and low-carbon field. What’s its overall arrangement in the SOFC sector and its specific areas of focus in related researches?
LEI Xianzhang: As the top scientific and technological innovation platform in Sichuan province, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory has aimed at the transformation and application of technological achievements in the province. We place particular emphasis on developing new SOFC industry chain to replace electrical energy, and focus on upstream and downstream areas such as hydrogen conversion, novel hydrogen energy storage and transportation technologies, and innovative material liquid cooling and thermal management technologies. These technologies have already been applied abroad but are relatively underdeveloped domestically, representing new technologies developed rapidly based on late-mover advantages in recent years.
Furthermore, we are also dedicated to establishing high-level testing standards. Looking toward, Tianfu Yongxing Lab aims not only to be an incubator for individual products, but also to drive the formation of local innovative and distinctive industrial advantages, with a view to creating new pathways for regional industries. We are convinced that a well-established SOFC evaluation system, much like China's UHV and 5G standards, can effectively guide industrial development. Following this, various new technologies will be adopted and transformed in the local SOFC industry, thereby assisting Chengdu in securing a position in the future new energy industry.
[ By LI Zhouxi from the Industry City ]
Tel
Postal
Address