Abstract: The high investment and operation costs as well as the negative impact of stochastic power input on production efficiency and durability restrict large-scale application of electrolyzer based hydrogen production. Firstly, the life-cycle cost model of the PEM electrolytic hydrogen production system is established, where the efficiency decay and the impacts of the random input power on the durability of the electrolyzer are considered. Then, the life-cycle revenue and economic assessment models are established considering the hydrogen sale profits and the equivalent environment profit. Finally, the proposed model and method were verified by simulations with the actual data, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the large-scale application of the PEM electrolyzer hydrogen production technology.