[인터뷰] Sung Won-yong, CEO of Ulsan Gyeongdong Charging Station
“Hydrogen charging stations are difficult to recommend to others”
[이투뉴스] “At first I started without knowing. If you apply, the city will build it for free.”
Sung Won-yong, CEO of’Ulsan Gyeongdong Charging Station’, said that there was no big plan while starting Korea’s first energy complex station. “I thought that while complying with the government’s policy, we could operate a gas station and an LPG charging station and also run a hydrogen charging station together,” said Sung. However, the actual operation of the complex station was not easy to recommend to others.
The Kyungdong Charging Station, operated by Seong, is the first complex energy station in Korea that can charge a variety of vehicle fuels, including gasoline and LPG, which are traditional fuels, as well as electricity and hydrogen. Gyeongdong Charging Station, located in Yeonam-dong, Buk-gu, Ulsan City, has built a hydrogen charging infrastructure in an idle space between an existing gasoline facility and an LPG charger on a 5000m2 site, and began to serve as a hydrogen charging station in 2018. The number of complex energy stations has been increasing since the Kyungdong charging station, but the title of the first in Korea does not fade easily.
Hydrogen charging stations are not significantly different from general gas stations in appearance. The hydrogen contained in the tubular container is temporarily stored in a compression facility and then charged to the hydrogen car at a pressure of 700 bar. If you put 6.33kg of hydrogen into the Hyundai hydrogen car Nexo, it can run over 600km.
It is known that Ulsan Metropolitan City supported the construction cost of the hydrogen charger at the Kyungdong Charging Station, and Ulsan Techno Park supported and managed the entire construction process. Ulsan Metropolitan City is said to be the most active in expanding the charging infrastructure in line with the government’s policy to expand the supply of hydrogen vehicles. Ulsan City has hosted five of the 42 hydrogen charging stations operating nationwide, so it is worth knowing how much effort is being made to supply hydrogen vehicles.
◆“Hydrogen and profit have nothing to do with it”
Separate from Ulsan’s commitment to supplying hydrogen cars, Seong said, “Hydrogen and profits have nothing to do with it.” “From October 2018 to now, we have been operating for more than two years, but since the free AS period has ended, it has been “I’m worried.”
According to Seong, the Gyeongdong charging station is a popular charging station where about 100 to 140 hydrogen vehicles visit each day. This is a tremendous amount considering that demand is driven by the suspension of the Yangjae hydrogen charging station, and the average number of hydrogen vehicles charged per day at the National Assembly hydrogen charging station, which is recognized in terms of safety, is about 70 units. In the case of the Kyungdong charging station, it may have worked as well, but the difference is huge. Nevertheless, CEO Sung expressed the position that there is no profit at all from the operation of the hydrogen charging station.
He also discussed difficulties in terms of inventory management. “Hydrogen is a very light gas,” said Seong. “Even if 20 tons of hydrogen tubes are transported, the inside is only 200kg of failure, so the next hydrogen tube is needed when about 40 cars are charged.”
He said, “I place orders for hydrogen tubes at the charging station the day before business.” “Hydrogen is delivered three times a day at 10 am, 4 pm, and 10 pm. “ Also, he said, “Twice a week there is a shortage of supplies, but there is no way to improve it,” he said. “If hydrogen is insufficient, the charging station will be closed for an hour or two as it is insufficient.”
Representative Sung explained that it is difficult to increase the size of the charging station to prepare for such a situation. He said, “Because there was an idle site at the gas station, we were able to make a decision to install a hydrogen charging station,” he said. “If the land was being used for other purposes, we would not have made the decision to start a hydrogen charging station.” Several coincidences resulted in the installation of a hydrogen charging station.
He explained that this is a big comparison with petroleum and LPG. In the case of petroleum transport vehicles, only the transport date is roughly determined, and such detailed preparation is not required. Likewise, LPG only sets the approximate transport time, not the exact time like hydrogen. Even if there is an error in hydrogen for only an hour, a shortage of supplies occurs. It is inconvenient for both charging stations and consumers.
Deokyang, who directly produces hydrogen, is 40 minutes away, so the situation for CEO Sung is better. In the case of hydrogen charging stations in other regions, there are voices that it is common for hydrogen transportation to be delayed even with small traffic jams. Due to such inconvenience, Seong also looked for a reformer that directly reformed LPG or coal to make hydrogen, but he said, “At the time of understanding, the price was 4 billion won. I was able to do it.”
“At most, it’s all about charging 150 hydrogen cars a day,” said Seong. “There are days when the sales volume of gas stations exceeds 1,000,” he said. “In terms of profitability, hydrogen charging stations and gas stations are incomparable.” In addition, he said, “If hydrogen is not sold a lot, you will have to sell it expensively to make profits. But if you start selling more expensive than gasoline, then the paradox begins.”
CEO Sung argued, “We should introduce a piping method that directly supplies hydrogen from Deokyang to the charging station rather than the current hydrogen tube trailer method.” In fact, the Ulsan Together hydrogen charging station, which is about to be completed, uses hydrogen pipes rather than transporting existing hydrogen tube trailers. The 2km hydrogen supply pipe from Deokyang to Together does not require space for placing a hydrogen tube trailer, thus reducing the need for filling stations. In addition, there is no need for the high pressure compressor that the tube trailer method used in the past. He said, “The city of Ulsan has plans to install piping at our Kyungdong charging station, but we are still quiet about the timing.”
There is also another problem. It is a regulation that is actually tightly blocked while advancing to a hydrogen economy. CEO Sung cited the fact that hydrogen charging station operators must perform a quality inspection at least four times, paying a fee of 1.05 million won per time. It is argued that the quality inspection fee of petroleum and LPG is free, but it is not fair to charge only hydrogen. It also revealed that it is regretful not to pay the price of the sample while collecting the hydrogen sample.
◆Expensive parts and breakdowns lead to a deficit starting next year
He said that hydrogen charging station revenue is expected to lose money from next year. CEO Sung said, “When the free AS period in August ends, the AS cost alone is expected to be 100 million won. Considering that the expected annual profit for a hydrogen charging station is about 10 million won, there is no need to run the hydrogen charging station business further. Comes out,” he explained.
“Sooner or later, the public may be able to read a newspaper article titled’The first energy complex station, closing for the first time’.” “Follow” said.
According to Sung, a diesel gas gun costs about 300,000 won and a gasoline gas gun costs about 600,000 won, but a hydrogen charging gun costs 10 million won. There are no cheap parts. Hydrogen charger parts go up from 5 million won to 10 million won. Apart from the cost, the lifespan is short and the supply and demand is long due to the small number of domestically manufactured parts. The discharge pipe, which is a safety device for hydrogen chargers, was contaminated with oil and closed for five weeks to obtain safety certification for new parts in Japan.
CEO Sung Won-yong said, “We can’t recommend it to others because we don’t know when it will be closed.” I will become,” he said. It is a bitter confession that there is a lack of support and policies related to hydrogen charging stations to recommend to others.
Reporter Kim Jin-oh [email protected]
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