DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Currently the production in South Korea is fuel cells aimed at automobiles was 1,800 units, half of which was exported. That is why the number of Korean vehicles with such propulsion accounts for almost 50% of the world. The first large fuel cell plant will be ready in 2022 to reach 40,000 units per year.

According to the plan, the goal is to have 80,000 fuel cell vehicles in circulation in less than 4 years and reach 1.8 million by 2030. With the aid for buses and trucks, would have about 2,000 buses in 2022, setting an example with the police that would have 820 in 2021. The massive manufacture of fuel cells would lower the price of this equipment, which could be half that of the current equipment by 2025.

South Korea is aware that it is currently a leader in the manufacture of fuel cells and a preferred supplier for the objectives of other countries such as China and the USA, which have projects for the development of hydrogen cars. A Korean vehicle, the Nexo, has a range with its hydrogen load of 600 km, the largest of any car that produces no emissions and its load takes only five minutes. That's why it plans to progressively have up to 1,200 stations supplying hydrogen by 2040 and that its price will be reduced considerably. At that time the production of hydrogen cars would be 6.2 million of which half would be for export.

Another purpose of the plan is the creation of jobs in this new industrial sector: it is estimated that they would reach 420,000 in 2040. However, an impartial analysis of this official information raises doubts about the possibilities of obtaining hydrogen by non-polluting processes, when at present only 2% of South Korea's primary energy comes from renewable sources.