"Platinum is too expensive" has become the mantra of many fuel-cell companies.

"As a rare metal, platinum is very low in global production and expensive. Even with the savings, each hydrogen fuel-cell bus will use about 50 grams. And most of China's platinum catalysts rely on imports, the cost is high, up to 200 yuan per gram!" Shandong a fuel cell enterprise responsible person said to reporters.

Platinum is an important catalyst across the hydrogen industry chain. The development of hydrogen energy industry will drive platinum demand to rise rapidly. However, China's platinum reserves are low and demand is large, and the supply and demand situation is more severe, which may become a "jam neck" problem restricting the future development of the industry.

Shortages in supply are blocking the cost of fuel cells

More than 80% of the world's platinum reserves are in South Africa. China's main distribution in Yunnan, Gansu area, but small reserves, low output. At present, it mainly relies on foreign countries, mostly from South Africa, Russia and other countries. As an important catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells, the rapid development of fuel cells in the future will drive the demand for platinum.

Supply cycle, demand cycle and inventory cycle of these three factors together affect the price trend of platinum. Of the three cycles, the most important is the demand cycle. Because demand is directional, once the future demand is large, the direction of the price must be upward. And when demand outstrips supply, prices will skyrocket, increasing the cost of fuel cells.

At present, each hydrogen fuel cell vehicle contains 36 to 150 grams of platinum, which is 4-25 times the consumption of platinum of traditional diesel vehicles. In the future, with technological progress, the platinum content of a single vehicle may decrease. It is assumed that by 2025, the global annual production of passenger vehicles will be 105 million units, of which 26.3% will be commercial vehicles, and 3% will be the penetration rate of fuel cell vehicles. Passenger cars accounted for 73.7 percent of the total, while FCVs had a penetration rate of 0.5 percent. Based on a single vehicle's platinum content of about 45 grams, about 53 tons of platinum will be consumed. Demand is high, and the price of platinum is also high, which fundamentally reduces the cost of fuel cells.

In this regard, a number of industry insiders pointed out that China's platinum reserves are small and the demand is large. Once the gap between supply and demand becomes larger, it will have a significant impact on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Recycling should be an important source of supply

But some experts say that not all platinum supply comes from raw ore, but can also come from recycling. Although the cumulative use of platinum is relatively small in the water electrolysis hydrogen production and hydrogen fuel cell industries, which are emerging markets, the recovery of platinum in the hydrogen energy sector is negligible. But as the use of platinum in this sector increases, over time, the average life of a light vehicle, for example, is about 14 years, and recovery in this sector will become a source of platinum supply, just like the current established automotive catalyst recovery business.