tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/hydrogen-cars-6373/articlesHydrogen cars – The Conversation2023-06-14T11:31:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018152023-06-14T11:31:20Z2023-06-14T11:31:20ZHow a UK hydrogen car industry could cut fuel costs and carbon emissions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529854/original/file-20230602-17-eoxrxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C16%2C5422%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A bright future for hydrogen cars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/self-service-hydrogen-filling-station-1873637851">Scharfsinn/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>British car company Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, the Indian conglomerate Tata, is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65698529">expected to finalise a deal</a> soon to build a multi-billion pound electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the UK. </p>
<p>This is a welcome development that could propel the UK car industry into a new era. But if UK manufacturers could develop hydrogen-fuel vehicles and infrastructure alongside EVs, it could create a hydrogen economy with fuel costs below today’s petrol and diesel prices.</p>
<p>British car makers are trying to pivot to meet changing global demands. More than 300 million electric vehicles will be required by 2030 if the world is to reach net zero emissions by 2050, according to <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/electric-vehicles">the International Energy Agency</a>. </p>
<p>Assuming an average battery size of 60 kilowatt hours (the current capacity of a standard Tesla Model 3), a total of 18 million megawatt hours will be required to power those EVs by 2050. This would consume <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020.pdf">nearly 10%</a> of total known global lithium resources. </p>
<p>But the environmental and social impacts of this amount of mining, the current low rate of mineral recycling from EV batteries (<a href="https://www.cas.org/resources/cas-insights/sustainability/lithium-ion-battery-recycling#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20only%205%25%20of%20the,8%20million%20tons%20of%20waste">5% for lithium at the moment</a> and the demand likely to be placed on electricity grids to power these vehicles all pose serious challenges to the world’s ability to transition to EVs before 2050.</p>
<p>This is why the means to develop hydrogen-powered vehicles should be developed alongside that for EVs in the UK. There are two types: hydrogen engines burn hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel, in the same way as a gasoline engine burns petrol.</p>
<p>Alternatively, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) are powered by generating electricity from hydrogen using a device called a fuel cell. They can drive for longer and refuel faster than EVs, making HFCVs a practical option for long-distance travel and especially for heavy goods vehicles such as lorries. </p>
<p>But hydrogen refuelling stations are costly to build and operate. They range from <a href="https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/21002-hydrogen-fueling-station-cost.pdf">US$1.5 million to US$2.5 million</a> (£1.2 million to £2 million), compared to the cost of an EV fast-charging station at <a href="https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_EV_Charging_Cost_20190813.pdf">US$75,000 to US$150,000</a>. </p>
<p>Plus, the estimated annual running costs for a renewable electrolysis hydrogen refuelling station are between <a href="https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/fuels-eu-cost-renew-H-produced-onsite-H-refueling-stations-europe-feb22.pdf">US$30 and US$35 per kw</a> versus <a href="https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Charging-Infrastructure-ZEVTC-final.pdf">US$2 to US$6 per kW</a> for an EV charging station. </p>
<p>This probably explains why, as of March 2023, there were <a href="https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/exclusive-shell-has-quietly-closed-down-all-its-hydrogen-filling-stations-in-the-uk/2-1-1335049">only 11 public hydrogen refuelling stations</a> open in the UK, compared to more than 57,000 public EV charging points. Indeed, under current conditions, <a href="https://www.dnv.com/energy-transition-outlook/download.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&utm_campaign=eto22&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwge2iBhBBEiwAfXDBR_PpBS2Dg61Y3OIUwSlcYET2NwKXNT5XC9zE5A9dLTDWMJok0Pf6hxoCad8QAvD_BwE#downloadform">only 0.01% of cars will run on hydrogen by 2050</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/heavy-duty-trucks-drive-clean-hydrogen-next-level">some research</a> suggests hydrogen could be used to decarbonise heavy vehicles for long-distance transport. And from there, a UK hydrogen economy could develop. </p>
<h2>Building a hydrogen economy</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890420310608">research shows</a> that <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/clean-energy-green-hydrogen/">blue hydrogen</a> – which is produced using natural gas with emissions captured and stored – could presently be sold for £1.90 to £2.80 per kilogram, with nearly complete carbon capture. </p>
<p>And, as renewable energy costs continue to fall and there is further development in the <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ee/d1ee00870f">electrolysis and seawater desalination</a> techniques used to produce climate-neutral hydrogen, it could also fall in price by 2050 to below US$1.00/kg in Chile and the Middle East, and US$1.80-US$2.50/kg in Europe. The different costs across countries are due to differences in electricity prices for solar or other clean energy generation. </p>
<p>One kilogram of hydrogen contains roughly the same amount of energy as <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/hydrogen_basics.html#:%7E:text=The%20energy%20in%202.2%20pounds,driving%20range%20of%20conventional%20vehicles.">a US gallon or 3.8 litres of petrol</a> (slightly less than one gallon of diesel fuel). This means the cost of hydrogen could become much cheaper than petrol or diesel fuel, which is priced at roughly <a href="https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/driving-costs/fuel-prices">£5.40 and £5.80 per 3.8 litres</a> respectively in the UK right now.</p>
<p>To achieve these lower prices, a UK hydrogen economy would require technology innovation, supply chain optimisation and economies of scale to reduce costs. Companies, <a href="https://www.bp.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home/news/press-releases/bp-and-boc-explore-uk-hydrogen-infrastructure-network-to-acceler.html">including BP</a>, are already investing in this vision. Toyota, Hyundai and Honda were also among the 13 founding members of the Hydrogen Council launched in 2017 to explore and invest in hydrogen as a low-carbon technology. </p>
<p>There are currently <a href="https://hydrogencouncil.com/en/hydrogen-insights-global-project-funnel-gains-momentum-across-value-chain-and-geographies/">1,040 projects representing US$320 billion in direct investment</a> due to complete between now and 2030, according to the Hydrogen Council. But it says this number needs to increase more than 20 times by 2030 to hit current net zero objectives.</p>
<p>Two hydrogen developers, H2 Green and Element 2, want to create <a href="https://www.h2green.co.uk/news/h2-green-element-two/">a UK-wide network</a> of 800 hydrogen refuelling stations for HGVs by 2027, rising to 2000 by 2030, with car access also available. And, by building on hydrogen infrastructure for HGVs, other industries could piggyback on the infrastructure, including public transportation, shipping, industrial applications and eventually cars.</p>
<p>Research into the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890420310608">hydrogen supply chain</a> also hints at a brighter future for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles as all of these developments help to bring down the cost of this fuel. If this happens, hydrogen could become a major player in global energy markets by 2050. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/blue-hydrogen-what-is-it-and-should-it-replace-natural-gas-166053">Blue hydrogen – what is it, and should it replace natural gas?</a>
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<p>This would require transportation capabilities. In many parts of the world, retrofitting existing pipelines for export would probably be more viable than building new pipelines. This would <a href="https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Apr/Global-hydrogen-trade-Part-II">reduce investment costs by more than 65%</a>. <a href="https://ruxenergy.com/">New technology</a> also helps exporters to better store and transport hydrogen on barges, rail and trucks.</p>
<p>Of course, hydrogen fuel cell technology still requires massive nickel and cobalt mining, just like EV batteries do. So, co-developing EVs and hydrogen-powered vehicles – and the necessary infrastructure – would be sensible. This would put countries like the UK in a stronger position to transition to net zero.</p>
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<img alt="A pipeline runs through a green valley towards mountains and a blue sky with clouds in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529864/original/file-20230602-27-bn71v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Retrofitting existing pipelines to carry hydrogen will be easier and cheaper than building new new ones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/modern-pipeline-valley-172364009">FooTToo/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Regulators and businesses</h2>
<p>In the next few decades, the UK government’s hydrogen strategy for transport focuses more on rail, aviation and freight transport (HGVs and trucks) than cars. Hydrogen-powered heavy trucks will rely on a relatively small number of refuelling stations that can be supplied by local production, rather than by public refuelling infrastructure. </p>
<p>The support is there to create a larger hydrogen economy. A 2021 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011283/UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_web.pdf">UK government plan</a> for a world-leading hydrogen economy aims to create more than 9,000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion in hydrogen investment by 2030.</p>
<p>But hydrogen development requires even more supportive policies that encourage investment, stimulate demand, push technological boundaries and enable infrastructure access, while also bringing down costs. By creating a hydrogen economy alongside EV development, the UK can help unlock hydrogen’s full potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:p.t.clough@cranfield.ac.uk">p.t.clough@cranfield.ac.uk</a> receives funding from UK government funding agencies related to hydrogen production. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ying Xie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why hydrogen vehicles should be developed alongside electric cars.Ying Xie, Professor in Supply Chain Analytics, Cranfield UniversityMingming Zhu, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, Cranfield UniversityPeter Clough, Senior Lecturer in Energy Engineering, Cranfield UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1946492022-11-30T11:28:05Z2022-11-30T11:28:05ZThe days of the hydrogen car are already over<p><a href="https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/brochure.pdf">Hydrogen fuel cell cars</a> emerged as an alternative to both the electric and combustion engine vehicle in the early 2000s. They were widely considered an avenue towards universal green motoring. Powered through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, the only tailpipe emission they produce is water. </p>
<p>The technology also promised a traditional driving experience. Drivers can refuel at filling stations and the range of a hydrogen car is comparable to the combustion engine vehicle. Hydrogen vehicle technology also offered oil companies the opportunity to shift their operations towards the production and transportation of hydrogen and hydrogen refuelling at existing stations. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-2-million-competition-to-promote-roll-out-of-hydrogen-fuelled-fleet-vehicles">UK government</a> reiterated its commitment to the technology in 2016 by investing £2 million in the promotion of hydrogen cars to UK businesses. The European Parliament have more recently agreed to set <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221014IPR43206/car-recharging-stations-should-be-available-every-60-km-say-meps">minimum national targets</a> for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. Under this framework, there will be at least one hydrogen refuelling station every 100km along main EU roads.</p>
<p>But hydrogen cars have now all but disappeared. Toyota and Hyundai, the only vehicle manufacturers to produce hydrogen cars for the UK market, sold just <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-environment-and-energy/why-hydrogen-no-longer-fuel-future">12 hydrogen cars</a> in the country in 2021. Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.electrive.com/2022/10/18/shell-quietly-closes-all-hydrogen-filling-stations-in-the-uk/">Shell closed</a> all of its UK Hydrogen refuelling stations. </p>
<p>Meanwhile electric vehicles, despite not delivering the range or the fast refuelling of a hydrogen car, have surged in popularity. In 2010, <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/2012/01/december-2011-ev-and-afv-registrations/">138 electric vehicles</a> were sold in the UK. This grew to roughly <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/2022/01/covid-stalls-2021-uk-new-car-market-but-record-ev-sales-show-future-direction/">190,000</a> annual sales in 2021.</p>
<h2>Infrastructure is key</h2>
<p>The vehicle types are not competing with each other outright. Instead, this is a case of competition between national technology systems. And where this is the case, the technically superior product rarely triumphs.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person choosing between VHS tape recorder options." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497353/original/file-20221125-7303-wo6gbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">VHS video cassette tapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-hand-chooses-video-cassette-tape-2192207673">Eakrin Rasadonyindee/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The Betamax tape recorder failed to take control of the video cassette market in the 1980s, despite being technically superior to its competitors. The lower-quality video home system (VHS) was able to take a dominant share of the market due to their better supply chain infrastructure. As they were <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/format-wars-the-tech-that-should-have-won/">stocked</a> in more video rental stores, VHS tapes were simply more accessible than Betamax.</p>
<p>Hydrogen and electric vehicles also depend on broader technological systems. One is based on electricity generation and the other on supplying hydrogen.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles have the advantage of being able to depend on an existing power generation and distribution system – the electrical grid. An electric vehicle can be recharged wherever there is access to a plug socket. </p>
<p>Electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, has capitalised on this. Already with a customer base, Tesla was able to build its vehicles and recharging infrastructure simultaneously. They <a href="https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-q4-2021-vehicle-production-deliveries">produced</a> over 900,000 new vehicles in 2021 and have installed a global fast charging network of <a href="https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/supercharger">35,000 superchargers</a> to support them.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white Tesla parked at a Tesla fast charging point." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497343/original/file-20221125-14-vlv0lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tesla have invested in a global fast charging network.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/calgary-alberta-canada-august-23rd-2019-1494953336">canadianPhotographer56/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The infrastructure that exists to support hydrogen vehicles is limited in comparison and will require extensive investment to introduce. The pipeline infrastructure necessary for a European hydrogen distribution system alone is estimated to cost <a href="https://gasforclimate2050.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/EHB-A-European-hydrogen-infrastructure-vision-covering-28-countries.pdf">€80–143 billion</a> (£69–123 billion).</p>
<p>As hydrogen needs to be pressurised and transported either as a gas or a liquid, supply chains must also be redesigned. The cost of developing hydrogen refuelling stations and scaling up hydrogen production will also be extensive. Hydrogen production currently accounts for just <a href="https://www.irena.org/Energy-Transition/Technology/Hydrogen">3% of global energy demand</a>.</p>
<p>But governments and businesses are at present unwilling to make the required investments. There is little economic sense in building the infrastructure if the network of cars is too small to use it. Yet at the same time demand for hydrogen cars will remain low until they are supported with compatible infrastructure.</p>
<h2>Lessons for the hydrogen car</h2>
<p>The introduction of complex technologies and infrastructures have always relied on investment in large scale technology systems. But governments face a choice over which technologies they support.</p>
<p>Investment in technologies to bring public transport systems to cities in developed nations at the turn of the 20th century, to fight wars, and to power modern economies all emerged at a time when <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/139463">governments took responsibility</a> for the need to invest, plan and control production and consumption in the national interest.</p>
<p>Large scale national infrastructure projects including <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep32432#metadata_info_tab_contents">nuclear power</a> and weapons programmes, rail electrification, the development of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/09/how-we-made-intercity-125">high-speed trains</a> and <a href="https://www.fai.org/page/icare-history-pioneers">manned space missions</a> all occurred throughout the remainder of the century. They all required coordinated efforts to bring them about. This involved government funding, the creation of new institutions such as Nasa and British Rail, research grants for manufacturers, and <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html">the setting of clear targets</a>. </p>
<p>Governments have also been the customers of these technologies. The US government, for example, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musks-spacex-wins-us-military-national-security-mission-contract-12047614">awarded</a> Elon Musk’s space technology programme, SpaceX, a contract to conduct national security launches for the US military.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A train passing through a station at speed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497344/original/file-20221125-26-h9hr74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">High-speed rail was introduced to the UK in 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/british-high-speed-passenger-train-passing-60627334">Gary Blakeley/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The planning and construction of such systems have always been underpinned by the idea that national interests are at stake. This has been the case whether the motive has been to ensure adequate military defences, to be internationally competitive or to provide societal benefits by launching satellites and developing mass public transport systems.</p>
<p>A mixed automotive economy of hydrogen and electric vehicles could accelerate the transition towards zero emissions. But a viable hydrogen automotive system will need investment on a massive scale. It will require the construction of new and complex technology systems and a fundamental shift in policy thinking and public discourse.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Stacey receives funding from ERDF. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Ivory receives funding from ERDF, FORTE (Sweden).</span></em></p>Hydrogen cars were heralded as an avenue towards universal green motoring, but progress has stalled in recent years.Tom Stacey, Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, Anglia Ruskin UniversityChris Ivory, Director of the Innovative Management Practice Research Centre, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1771412022-02-16T01:49:15Z2022-02-16T01:49:15ZHarnessing the fossil fuel industry to combat climate change? It’s more than a pipe dream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446637/original/file-20220215-23-13g6p2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C6441%2C4242&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many might choke at the suggestion Big Oil could play a key role in saving the climate. But, culpability for past actions aside, it is worth considering how fossil fuel interests might be recruited to combat global warming.</p>
<p>International commitments to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 leave less than three decades to achieve monumental change. A healthy dose of pragmatism will be essential.</p>
<p>Allowing time for new technologies to emerge might not be enough. Consumers will be reluctant to switch from familiar fossil fuels to untried or inconvenient new technologies with limited infrastructure – even if they are cheaper.</p>
<p>By the same token, new fuel infrastructures will not become competitive unless they achieve scale, meaning existing infrastructures will enjoy scale-related cost advantages unless sufficient users migrate to the new technologies.</p>
<p>Breaking this cycle is as much an economic challenge as a technological one. Harnessing the massive infrastructure and resources of the fossil fuel industry could be one way to meet that challenge.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446638/original/file-20220215-19-1njzczt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Would it be better to repurpose existing infrastructure than build from scratch?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Accelerating net-zero targets</h2>
<p>History shows the mass market adoption of new technologies is driven by their convenience and cost-effectiveness compared to what they replace. And large vested interests can be key to rolling out the required infrastructures.</p>
<p>For example, canals and railways in industrial revolution Britain were not built for ordinary travellers. They were sponsored by industrialists wanting more cost-effective transport options.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-leaves-too-many-loopholes-for-the-fossil-fuel-industry-here-are-5-of-them-171398">COP26 leaves too many loopholes for the fossil fuel industry. Here are 5 of them</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.cognitus.co.nz/_files/ugd/022795_b18d64b71e934fbfbff4fc4d8e14b180.pdf">recent study</a> I authored on transitioning to net-zero emissions in transport and other sectors highlighted another (perhaps unexpected) solution: repurposing existing fossil fuel supply chains and infrastructures to supply low- or zero-emission fuels.</p>
<p>This could represent an affordable way to transition more rapidly to net-zero than by building entirely new infrastructures.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446639/original/file-20220215-15-1t8xb0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are already on the road in some countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>The hydrogen alternative</h2>
<p>Central to any viable solution is certainty. For instance, vehicle buyers face the risk of choosing a new technology that fails to take off, or opting for one that is displaced by another.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles (EVs) are a case in point. At the turn of the 20th century they challenged both steam and fossil fuel vehicles (FFVs) in the race to replace the horse, until they were eclipsed by FFVs.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-hydrogen-to-be-truly-clean-it-must-be-made-with-renewables-not-coal-128053">For hydrogen to be truly 'clean' it must be made with renewables, not coal</a>
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<p>Modern EVs have taken an early lead in replacing FFVs, despite a less-than-ideal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626192030533X">environmental footprint</a>. But major carmakers in <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1134191_japanese-expand-hydrogen-internal-combustion-engines">Japan</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/german-auto-giants-place-their-bets-hydrogen-cars-2021-09-22/">Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/china-autos-hydrogen-idUSKBN2650L0">China</a> are actively exploring rival clean technologies, with <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology-news/under-skin-will-hydrogen-combustion-engines-become-viable">hydrogen</a> the most likely contender.</p>
<p>Hydrogen technology is perhaps as developed now as EVs were a decade ago, and is rapidly improving. It’s not inconceivable that EVs could be displaced, given the ability of hydrogen to fuel heavy transport, aviation and shipping.</p>
<p>Hydrogen might ultimately <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/a-vision-for-hydrogen-in-new-zealand-green-paper.pdf">fuel all transport and much industry</a>, affording it important scale advantages.</p>
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<h2>Adaptation and affordability</h2>
<p>In practice, hydrogen would be transported in <a href="https://firstgas.co.nz/news/firstgas-group-announces-plan-to-decarbonise-gas-pipeline-network-in-new-zealand/">modified gas networks</a> and likely distributed through <a href="https://www.waitomogroup.co.nz/environmental">new or existing petrol stations</a>. It <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/a-vision-for-hydrogen-in-new-zealand-green-paper.pdf">could be made</a> using renewable electricity to split water, or from natural gas with carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing captured and stored in depleted gas fields.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.apep.uci.edu/PDF_White_Papers/Roadmap_Renewable_Hydrogen_Production-UCI_APEP-CEC.pdf">Californian study</a> predicts hydrogen produced using renewable electricity will reach price parity with existing fuels this decade. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toyota.com/mirai/">Toyota</a> and <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/127275953/councillor-can-now-hit-accelerator-on-hydrogenfuelled-car">Hyundai</a> have already released consumer hydrogen cars, and New Zealand recently imported its first <a href="https://www.hyundai.co.nz/trucks/xcient/fuel-cell">hydrogen-powered truck</a>. Hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is also emerging both <a href="https://www.hiringa.co.nz/hydrogen-refuelling-network">locally</a> and <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026719/number-of-hydrogen-fuel-stations-by-country/">globally</a>.</p>
<p>Promisingly, hydrogen combustion vehicles are already <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/toyota-testing-hydrogen-combustion-engines-race-cars-80764552">under development</a>, raising the possibility of retro-fitting existing FFVs to run on hydrogen (just as FFVs were <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/487977/Flashback-to-LPG">converted to run on natural gas</a> after oil price shocks in the 1970s).</p>
<p>This could substantially reduce the cost of replacing New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/new-zealand-motor-vehicle-register-statistics/national-vehicle-fleet-status/">3.5 million private vehicles</a> with low-emissions alternatives – an unavoidable challenge in decarbonising transport.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-cars-wont-save-the-planet-without-a-clean-energy-overhaul-they-could-increase-pollution-118012">Electric cars won't save the planet without a clean energy overhaul – they could increase pollution</a>
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<h2>Managed market solutions</h2>
<p>Why would fossil fuel companies make the necessary clean energy investments? Because they see it as sufficiently profitable compared to the alternatives.</p>
<p>Rather than abandoning much of their existing assets and switching to electricity generation and distribution to profit from a transition to EVs, they could repurpose their considerable assets and resources to produce and distribute hydrogen (or some other clean fuel).</p>
<p>Fossil fuel companies could be assured of playing a key role in the transition if governments picked a winner among competing clean technologies – but this would be politically hazardous.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oil-companies-are-thinking-about-a-low-carbon-future-but-arent-making-big-investments-in-it-yet-122365">Oil companies are thinking about a low-carbon future, but aren't making big investments in it yet</a>
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<p>Usefully, there is another approach that avoids those risks: <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/11677/multi0page.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">franchise bidding</a> – a much-used policy tool that replaces competition <em>in</em> markets with competition <em>for</em> markets.</p>
<p>Under this approach, governments would plan fossil fuel reductions over time, but auction a monopoly right to develop a clean energy alternative. That right would be time-limited and subject to performance standards and pricing oversight.</p>
<p>Creating a monopoly right allows economies of scale. Critically, vehicle manufacturers and buyers, fuel manufacturers and infrastructure investors can be confident they are not investing in the “wrong” technology – they all know the way forward.</p>
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<h2>Efficiency and equity</h2>
<p>Furthermore, auctioning the monopoly right means governments avoid the political hazards of picking a winner. And proceeds from such an auction could be used to subsidise clean vehicle uptake or conversion of existing vehicles to clean fuels.</p>
<p>Finally, an auction can induce parties to participate when they might otherwise prefer no new technologies to emerge at all. Confronted with the prospect of owning a declining technology while a competitor enjoys the monopoly right to build the new one, winning the auction would look like the least-worst future.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-big-oil-knew-about-climate-change-in-its-own-words-170642">What Big Oil knew about climate change, in its own words</a>
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<p>Fossil fuel companies should have a substantial head start in winning such an auction, given their highly developed infrastructures, massive balance sheets and skilled workforces.</p>
<p>They could also ensure a more orderly transition away from fossil fuels to clean ones, since they would manage the supply of both.</p>
<p>And whether fossil fuel companies or other clean energy suppliers win, by holding a franchise-bidding auction the net-zero transition in transport is achieved more quickly, efficiently and equitably.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Meade is Principal Economist at Cognitus Economic Insight. Research funding for the study cited in this article was provided by companies owning electricity and/or natural gas distribution networks. The views expressed in that study, and in this article, are the author’s alone. </span></em></p>If governments auctioned off monopoly rights to produce and distribute clean fuels, Big Oil might be forced to buy into a greener transport future.Richard Meade, Senior Research Fellow, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1476962020-11-09T14:25:55Z2020-11-09T14:25:55ZHydrogen: where is low-carbon fuel most useful for decarbonisation?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368297/original/file-20201109-17-11pttua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5304%2C2135&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/change-fuel-cell-vehicles-hand-flips-1508658467">FrankHH/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is hydrogen the lifeblood of a low-carbon future, or an overhyped distraction from real solutions? One thing is certain – the coal, oil and natural gas which currently power much of daily life must be phased out within coming decades. From the cars we drive to the energy that heats our homes, these fossil fuels are deeply embedded in society and the global economy. But is the best solution in all cases to swap them with hydrogen – a fuel which only produces water vapour, and not CO₂, when burned?</p>
<p>Answering that question are six experts in engineering, physics and chemistry.</p>
<h2>Road and rail</h2>
<p><strong>Hu Li, Associate Professor of Energy Engineering, University of Leeds</strong></p>
<p>Transport became the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/878642/decarbonising-transport-setting-the-challenge.pdf">UK’s largest source</a> of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, contributing about 28% of the country’s total.</p>
<p>Replacing the internal combustion engines of passenger cars and light-duty vehicles with batteries could accelerate the process of decarbonising road transport, but electrification isn’t such a good option for heavy-duty vehicles such as lorries and buses. Compared to gasoline and diesel fuels, the energy density (measured in megajoules per kilogram) of a battery is <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2019">just 1%</a>. For a 40-tonne truck, just over four tonnes of lithium-ion battery cells are needed for a range of 800 kilometres, compared to just 220 kilograms of diesel.</p>
<p>With the UK government set to <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-things-the-uk-government-must-do-to-phase-out-petrol-diesel-and-hybrid-cars-by-2035-131225">ban fossil fuel vehicles</a> from 2035, hydrogen fuel cells could do much of the heavy lifting in decarbonising freight and public transport, where <a href="https://www.dnvgl.com/oilgas/download/hydrogen-as-an-energy-carrier.html">80% of hydrogen demand</a> in transport is likely to come from. </p>
<p>A fuel cell generates electricity through a chemical reaction between the stored hydrogen and oxygen, producing water and hot air as a byproduct. Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells have a similar driving range and can be refuelled about as quickly as internal combustion engine vehicles, another reason they’re useful for long-haul and heavy-duty transport.</p>
<p>Hydrogen fuel can be transported as liquid or compressed gas by existing natural gas pipelines, which will save millions on infrastructure and speed up its deployment. Even existing internal combustion engines can use hydrogen, but there are problems with fuel injection, reduced power output, onboard storage and emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), which can react in the lower atmosphere to form ozone – <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-lockdown-had-little-to-no-effect-on-global-temperatures-148129">a greenhouse gas</a>. The goal should be to eventually replace internal combustion engines with hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles that are too large for lithium-ion batteries. But in the meantime, blending with other fuels or using a diesel-hydrogen hybrid could help lower emissions.</p>
<p>It’s very important to consider where the hydrogen comes from though. Hydrogen can be produced by splitting water with electricity in a process called electrolysis. If the electricity was generated by renewable sources such as solar and wind, the resulting fuel is called green hydrogen. It can be used in the form of compressed gas or liquid and converted to methane, methanol, ammonia and other synthetic liquid fuels. </p>
<p>But nearly all of the <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy/">27 terawatt-hours</a> (TWh) of hydrogen currently used in the UK is produced by reforming fossil fuels, which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2020/06/06/estimating-the-carbon-footprint-of-hydrogen-production/#3866364b24bd">generates nine tonnes of CO₂</a> for every tonne of hydrogen. This is currently the cheapest option, though some experts predict that green hydrogen will be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/03/green-hydrogen-from-renewables-could-become-cheapest-transformative-fuel-within-a-decade">cost-competitive by 2030</a>. In the meantime, governments will need to ramp up the production of vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells and storage tanks and build lots of refuelling points.</p>
<p>Hydrogen can play a key role in decarbonising rail travel too, alongside other low-carbon fuels, such as biofuels. In the UK, 6,049 kilometres of mainline routes run on electricity – that’s <a href="https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/infrastructure-and-emissions/rail-infrastructure-and-assets/">38% of the total</a>. Trains powered by hydrogen fuel cells offer a zero-emission alternative to diesel trains. </p>
<p>The Coradia iLint, which entered commercial service in <a href="https://www.alstom.com/solutions/rolling-stock/coradia-ilint-worlds-1st-hydrogen-powered-train">Germany in 2018</a>, is the world’s first hydrogen-powered train. The UK recently launched mainline testing of its <a href="https://www.railway-technology.com/news/uk-mainline-testing-hydrogen-powered-trains/">own hydrogen-powered train</a>, though the UK trial aims to retrofit existing diesel trains rather than design and build entirely new ones.</p>
<h2>Aviation</h2>
<p><strong>Valeska Ting, Professor of Smart Nanomaterials, University of Bristol</strong></p>
<p>Of all of the sectors that we need to decarbonise, air travel is perhaps the most challenging. While cars and boats can realistically switch to batteries or hybrid technologies, the sheer weight of even the lightest batteries makes long-haul electric air travel <a href="https://www.fch.europa.eu/sites/default/files/FCH%2520Docs/20200507_Hydrogen%2520Powered%2520Aviation%2520report_FINAL%2520web%2520%2528ID%25208706035%2529.pdf">tricky</a>.</p>
<p>Single-seat concept planes such as the <a href="https://aroundtheworld.solarimpulse.com/adventure">Solar Impulse</a> generate their energy from the sun, but they can’t generate enough based on the efficiency of current solar cells alone so must also <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/6/11569202/aviation-emissions-solar-plane">use batteries</a>. Other alternatives include synthetic fuels or biofuels, but these could just defer or reduce carbon emissions, rather than eliminate them altogether, as a carbon-free fuel like green hydrogen could.</p>
<p>Hydrogen is extremely light and contains three times more energy per kilogram than jet fuel, which is why it’s traditionally used to power <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/liquid-hydrogen-the-fuel-of-choice-for-space-exploration">rockets</a>. Companies including Airbus are already developing commercial zero-emission aircraft that run on <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54242176">hydrogen</a>. This involves a <a href="https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2020/09/airbus-reveals-new-zeroemission-concept-aircraft.html">radical redesign</a> of their fleet to accommodate <a href="https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2020/09/airbus-reveals-new-zeroemission-concept-aircraft.html">liquid hydrogen fuel tanks</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three aeroplanes of different designs fly in formation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362442/original/file-20201008-18-18pgnoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s impression of what hydrogen-powered commercial flight might look like.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.airbus.com/search.image.html?q=&lang=en&newsroom=true#searchresult-image-all-22">Airbus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are some technical challenges though. Hydrogen is a gas at room temperature, so very low temperatures and <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/liquid-hydrogen-delivery">special equipment</a> are needed to store it as a liquid. That means more weight, and subsequently, more fuel. However, research we’re doing at the <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/composites/">Bristol Composites Institute</a> is helping with the design of lightweight aircraft components made out of <a href="https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-is-a-composite-material">composite materials</a>. We’re also looking at <a href="https://www.theengineer.co.uk/nanocage-hydrogen-gas/">nanoporous materials</a> that behave like molecular sponges, spontaneously absorbing and storing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNqLeO61huM">hydrogen at high densities</a> for onboard hydrogen storage in future aircraft designs.</p>
<p><a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france-aerospace/france-bets-on-green-plane-in-package-to-save-aerospace-sector-idUKKBN23G0TB">France</a> and <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/germany-plans-to-promote-green-hydrogen-with-e7-billion/">Germany</a> are investing billions in hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft. But while the development of these new aircraft by industry continues apace, international airports will also need to rapidly invest in infrastructure to store and deliver liquid hydrogen to refuel them. There’s a risk that fleets of hydrogen aeroplanes could take off before there’s a sufficient <a href="https://www.fch.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Hydrogen%2520Roadmap%2520Europe_Report.pdf">fuel supply chain</a> to sustain them.</p>
<h2>Heating</h2>
<p><strong>Tom Baxter, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Aberdeen & Ernst Worrell, Professor of Energy, Resources and Technological Change, Utrecht University</strong></p>
<p>If the <a href="https://connectpa.co.uk/appg-hydrogen/">All Party Parliamentary Group on Hydrogen’s</a> recommendations are taken up, the UK government is likely to support hydrogen as a replacement fuel for heating buildings in its next white paper. The other option for decarbonising Britain’s gas heating network is electricity. So which is likely to be a better choice – a hydrogen boiler in every home or an electric heat pump?</p>
<p>First there’s the price of fuel to consider. When hydrogen is generated through electrolysis, <a href="https://euobserver.com/opinion/149089#:%7E:text=The%20explanation%20is%20quite%20simple,percent%20energy%20remaining%20in%20the">between 30-40%</a> of the original electric energy is lost. One kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity in a heat pump may generate 3-5 kWh of heat, while the same kWh of electricity gets you only 0.6-0.7 kWh of heat with a hydrogen-fuelled boiler. This means that generating enough hydrogen fuel to heat a home will require electricity generated from four times as many turbines and solar panels than a heat pump. Because heat pumps need so much less energy overall to supply the same amount of heat, the need for large amounts of stored green energy on standby is much less. Even reducing these losses with more advanced technology, hydrogen will remain relatively expensive, both in terms of energy and money.</p>
<p>So using hydrogen to heat homes isn’t cheap for consumers. Granted, there is a higher upfront cost for installing an electric heat pump. That could be a serious drawback for cash-strapped households, though heat pumps heat a property using around <a href="https://gshp.org.uk/documents/CE82-DomesticGroundSourceHeatPumps.pdf">a quarter of the energy</a> of hydrogen. In time, lower fuel bills would more than cover the installation cost.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large fan unit sits outside an apartment building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368290/original/file-20201109-23-4zweb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Heat pumps, like this one, are a better bet for decarbonising heating.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/airair-heat-pump-heating-hot-water-1515767096">Klikkipetra/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Replacing natural gas with hydrogen in the UK’s heating network isn’t likely to be simple either. Per volume, the energy density of hydrogen gas is about <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage">one-third that of natural gas</a>, so converting to hydrogen will not only require new boilers, but also investment in grids to increase how much fuel they can deliver. The very small size of hydrogen molecules mean they’re much more prone to leaking than natural gas molecules. Ensuring that the existing gas distribution system is fit for hydrogen could prove quite costly. </p>
<p>In high-density housing in inner cities, district heating systems – which distribute waste heat from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-nuclear-power-stations-could-make-hydrogen-heat-homes-and-decarbonise-industry-148445">power plants</a> and factories into homes – could be a better bet in a warming climate, as, like heat pumps, they can cool homes as well as heat them.</p>
<p>Above all, this stresses the importance of energy efficiency, what the International Energy Agency calls the first fuel in buildings. Retrofitting buildings with insulation to make them energy efficient and switching boilers for heat pumps is the most promising route for the vast majority of buildings. Hydrogen should be reserved for applications where there are few or no alternatives. Space heating of homes and buildings, except for limited applications like in particularly old homes, is not one of them.</p>
<h2>Electricity and energy storage</h2>
<p><strong>Petra de Jongh, Professor of Catalysts and Energy Storage Materials, Utrecht University</strong></p>
<p>Fossil fuels have some features that seem impossible to beat. They’re packed full of energy, they’re easy to burn and they’re compatible with most engines and generators. Producing electricity using gas, oil, or coal is cheap, and offers complete certainty about, and control over, the amount of electricity you get at any point in time. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, how much wind or solar electricity we can generate isn’t something that we enjoy a lot of control over. It’s difficult to even adequately predict when the sun will shine or the wind will blow, so renewable power output fluctuates. Electricity grids can only tolerate a limited amount of fluctuation, so being able to store excess electricity for later is key to switching from fossil fuels.</p>
<p>Hydrogen seems ideally suited to meet this challenge. Compared to batteries, the storage capacity of hydrogen is unlimited – the electrolyser which produces it from water never fills up. Hydrogen can be converted back into electricity using a fuel cell too, though quite a bit of energy is lost in the process.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, hydrogen is the lightest gas and so it’s difficult to store and transport it. It can be liquefied or stored at very high pressures. But then there’s the cost – green hydrogen is still two to three times more expensive than that produced from natural gas, and the costs are even higher if an electrolyser is only used intermittently. Ideally, we could let hydrogen react with CO₂, either captured from the air or taken from flue gases, to produce renewable liquid fuels that are carbon-neutral, an option that we’re investigating at the Debye Institute at Utrecht University. </p>
<h2>Heavy industry</h2>
<p><strong>Stephen Carr, Lecturer in Energy Physics, University of South Wales</strong></p>
<p>Industry is the second most polluting sector in the UK after transport, accounting for 21% of the UK’s <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/reducing-uk-emissions-2020-progress-report-to-parliament/">total carbon emissions</a>. A large proportion of these emissions come from processes involving heat, whether it’s firing a kiln to very high temperatures to produce cement or generating steam to use in an oven making food. Most of this heat is currently generated using natural gas, which will need to be swapped out with a zero-carbon fuel, or electricity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker in silver, protective gear stokes a furnace spewing molten metal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368295/original/file-20201109-23-1kg9dbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Furnaces in the steel industry are generally powered by fossil fuels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/iron-steel-industry-1229619967">Rocharibeiro/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Let’s look in depth at <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/824592/industrial-fuel-switching.pdf">one industry</a>: ceramics manufacturing. Here, high-temperature direct heating is required, where the flame or hot gases touch the material being heated. Natural gas-fired burners are currently used for this. Biomass can generate zero-carbon heat, but biomass supplies are limited and aren’t best suited to use in direct heating. Using an electric kiln would be efficient, but it would entail an overhaul of existing equipment. Generating electricity has a comparably high cost too.</p>
<p>Swapping natural gas with hydrogen in burners could be cheaper overall, and would require only slight changes to equipment. The <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy/">Committee on Climate Change</a>, which advises the UK government, reports that 90 TWh of industrial fossil fuel energy per year (equivalent to the total annual consumption of Wales) could be replaced with hydrogen by 2040. Hydrogen will be the cheapest option in most cases, while for 15 TWh of industrial fossil fuel energy, hydrogen is the only suitable alternative. </p>
<p>Hydrogen is already used in industrial processes such as oil refining, where it’s used to react with and remove unwanted sulphur compounds. Since <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy/">most hydrogen</a> currently used in the UK is derived from fossil fuels, it will be necessary to ramp up renewable energy capacity to deliver truly green hydrogen before it can replace the high-carbon fuels powering industrial processes.</p>
<p>The same rule applies to each of these sectors – hydrogen is only as green as the process that produced it. Green hydrogen will be part of the solution in combination with other technologies and measures, including lithium-ion batteries, and energy efficiency. But the low-carbon fuel will be most useful in decarbonising the niches that are currently difficult for electrification to reach, such as heavy-duty vehicles and industrial furnaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hu Li is a member of the Energy Institute and Energy Leeds, a research and education hub at the University of Leeds. He is also technical director of Liber Larus Ltd, a company which promotes technological exchange between the UK and China and provides consultation in the renewable energy sector. He has received funding from the Innovate UK, EPSRC, Royal Society, EU and industry.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Carr receives funding from ERDF, as part of the Reducing Industrial Carbon Emissions (RICE) project. He has previously received funding from the Innovate UK IDCF Roadmap and Deployment projects. He is a member of the Energy Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valeska Ting receives funding from EPSRC for research into hydrogen storage. She also sits on the EPSRC Energy Strategic Advisory Committee.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernst Worrell, Petra E. de Jongh, and Tom Baxter do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hydrogen is feted as the key to a dynamic green economy. But is it the best choice for decarbonisation in all cases?Tom Baxter, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of AberdeenErnst Worrell, Professor of Energy, Resources and Technological Change, Utrecht UniversityHu Li, Associate Professor of Energy Engineering, University of LeedsPetra E. de Jongh, Professor of Catalysts and Energy Storage Materials, Utrecht UniversityStephen Carr, Lecturer in Energy Physics, University of South WalesValeska Ting, Professor of Smart Nanomaterials, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1312252020-02-05T13:57:41Z2020-02-05T13:57:41ZFour things the UK government must do to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid cars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313741/original/file-20200205-149796-1d61lsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5751%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The future of British motoring?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-may-28-2018small-modern-1092281945">Bubble_Tea Stock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government recently pledged to bring forward a ban on new diesel and petrol car sales from 2040, to 2030. The move surprised some, but perhaps most surprising was the confirmation that the ban will also include hybrid vehicles, which use a combustion engine running on fossil fuel and an electric battery pack.</p>
<p>You might have taken the noise and fumes for granted at roadsides, but the ban would mean that petrol and diesel fuel is eliminated from new passenger vehicles within 15 years. This would have obvious benefits for reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality, but there are significant obstacles for the UK’s car industry to overcome in the meantime. </p>
<p>In 2019, only 1.6% of new passenger vehicles sold were <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/evs-and-afvs-registrations/">electric vehicles</a>, but they will need to form the majority of sales from 2035. So how can the next decade and a half set Britain on track for zero-carbon car travel?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cars-will-change-more-in-the-next-decade-than-they-have-in-the-past-century-113585">Cars will change more in the next decade than they have in the past century</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Skills and training</h2>
<p>When it comes to designing and building petrol and diesel powered vehicles, the UK has a wealth of talent and expertise. <a href="https://www.smmt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/SMMT-Motor-Industry-Facts-May-2019-V2.pdf">In 2018, the UK produced 2.72 million engines</a> and was the fourth largest car manufacturing country in the EU by total vehicles produced. </p>
<p>If the UK is to retain or grow this £82 billion industry in 2035, much of the existing workforce will need to be retrained in making electric vehicles. A wave of engineering graduates with expertise in electric and autonomous vehicles will also be needed to develop the next generation of electric vehicles.</p>
<h2>2. Innovation and infrastructure</h2>
<p>The good news is that universities and start-ups in the UK are behind world-leading research into new battery technologies. There’s more than one way to power an electric car, and these batteries come in a dizzying variety, from solid-state electrolyte batteries, low cost sodium-ion batteries, and lithium-air batteries which can store much more energy than conventional lithium-ion batteries. </p>
<p>The government is investing £274 million in battery research and manufacturing over four years through the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-secretary-to-establish-uk-as-world-leader-in-battery-technology-as-part-of-modern-industrial-strategy">Faraday Challenge</a>. But investment will have to continue well after that to ensure these technologies make the difficult transition from prototype to mass production.</p>
<p>All those electric vehicles will need charging points too, and their increased electricity demand on the national grid will need to be met by renewables. That could amount to over 80 terawatt hours (TWh) – <a href="https://theconversation.com/britain-has-shifted-30-of-its-electricity-away-from-fossil-fuels-in-just-nine-years-108969">increasing demand by a quarter</a>. New solar farms and wind turbines will need to be built, along with new power lines, substations and rapid charging networks to distribute the electricity. If all of this is to be in place by 2035, action and investment is needed almost immediately.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313748/original/file-20200205-149789-1cujoy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To ensure the transition to electric transport is sustainable, the UK will need to decarbonise its electricity supply.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/electric-vehicle-charging-station-london-westminster-1058971523">Bubble_Tea Stock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Lifetime and recycling</h2>
<p>Many electric cars run on lithium-ion batteries, which start to age and lose the amount of electricity they can store from the moment they’re made. This is not so much of a problem in our phones, which have small batteries and are replaced every few years. But when it comes to electric vehicles, the battery pack is typically the most expensive part of the vehicle. </p>
<p>In 2017, the average lifetime of an electric vehicle battery pack was <a href="https://www.apcuk.co.uk/technology-roadmaps/">eight years, and only 10-50% of it could be recycled</a>. Targets for 2035 are to have battery packs that last 15 years and are 95% recyclable. Researchers will need to improve the design of these batteries and the cars themselves to achieve this, while the government will have to build facilities that can recycle batteries, separating the raw materials – lithium, cobalt, nickel and carbon – so that they can be reused in the next generation of batteries.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lithium-is-finite-but-clean-technology-relies-on-such-non-renewable-resources-109630">Lithium is finite – but clean technology relies on such non-renewable resources</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Hydrogen</h2>
<p>Battery electric vehicles aren’t the only solution. Hydrogen fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen from the air to produce water, generating electricity. If the hydrogen fuel is produced through electrolysis using renewable energy, then the process can have net zero CO₂ emissions. </p>
<p>Hydrogen fuels cells are less energy efficient than batteries, but the compressed hydrogen tank can be refuelled in less than five minutes and in a similar way to refuelling a petrol or diesel car. This makes hydrogen ideal for vehicles that undertake repeated long-distance journeys and are currently limited by the range and charging times of battery vehicles, such as taxis and transit vans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313747/original/file-20200205-149757-f8ngak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hydrogen buses were introduced in London to help reduce air pollution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonuk501-double-decker-bus-motion-hydrogen-1008539275">Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Lorries and buses aren’t covered in the 2035 ban, but hydrogen is also an ideal alternative fuel for them. <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/pollution-and-air-quality/cleaner-buses">London has eight hydrogen buses</a>, but there are just <a href="https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/107297/car-makers-urge-eu-to-invest-in-hydrogen-filling-stations">17 hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, compared with 15,000 electric vehicle charging points</a>. A hydrogen refuelling network is urgently needed to help decarbonise the parts of the UK’s transport network that is hard for electric vehicles to reach.</p>
<p>The common theme across all of these points is investment. If the UK government really intends to meet its ambitious new target, then it will need to invest heavily and soon. If done right, this could reignite the automotive industry and position the UK as a world leader in electric vehicle production.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1131225">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Fly receives funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) UK for research into digital vehicle engineering. </span></em></p>It may seem a long way away, but a 2035 ban requires investment and major changes right now.Ashley Fly, Lecturer in Vehicle Electrification, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1135852019-05-14T16:12:48Z2019-05-14T16:12:48ZCars will change more in the next decade than they have in the past century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274334/original/file-20190514-60570-gfti2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/frankfurtseptember-20-mercedesbenz-f015-luxury-motion-719917177?src=OmsG68JHzirH26Sf6RESWw-1-3">eans/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the look and feel of our cars has changed in the past <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/automobile/History-of-the-automobile">100 years</a>, the way we drive them hasn’t. But fundamental change is coming. In the next decade, not only will the way they’re powered and wired have shifted dramatically, but we won’t be the ones driving them anymore.</p>
<p>Some cars already have basic automation features, but the automotive experiments currently being undertaken by the likes of Uber and Google make up a minuscule proportion of the vehicles on our roads. By 2030, the standard car will evolve from merely <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-to-consider-before-speed-limiters-are-added-to-cars-114457">assisting the driver</a> to taking full control of <a href="https://www.ertrac.org/uploads/documentsearch/id57/ERTRAC-CAD-Roadmap-2019.pdf">all aspects of driving</a> in most driving conditions. </p>
<p>This widespread automation, together with the electrification and increased connectivity of both the car and society, are set to shake up the car industry in a big way, affecting everything from the way cars look and feel, to how we spend our time inside them, and how they get us from A to B.</p>
<h2>A very different driving experience</h2>
<p>The first major difference we might notice between today’s cars and those of 2030 are their names. Just as Apple and Samsung have taken over a mobile phone market that Nokia and Blackberry once dominated, Tesla, Apple, Dyson, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/alphabet-has-more-than-doubled-its-money-on-lyft.html">Google</a> could become the most recognised automotive brands of the future.</p>
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<p>They’ll likely look a lot different too. From <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/nissan-ims-concept-previews-electric-elevated-sports-saloon">the outside</a>, the large air intakes and front grills that cool our combustion engines will no longer be needed, while wing mirrors will be replaced with cameras and sensors. Windows could be larger to allow liberated passengers to enjoy the view, or near non-existent to provide privacy. The <a href="https://www.designboom.com/technology/mercedes-benz-vision-urbanetic-autonomous-09-10-2018/">Mercedes-Benz Vision URBANETIC</a> demonstrates these radical new looks with a modular vehicle that can switch bodies to either move cargo or people.</p>
<p>Cars’ interiors will be much more flexible, some allowing customisation of colour, light, privacy, and layout at the touch of a button. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlh-_hoNLaI">Volvo’s recent 360c concept car</a> envisages a multi-functional space that can transform into a lounge, an office and even a bedroom. </p>
<p>Sun visors will become a thing of the past, with smart glass allowing us to control the amount of entering daylight at the touch of a button. The <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/concept-cars/mercedes-benz-f015-autonomous-concept-first-ride">Mercedes F015</a> concept car’s doors even have extra screens that can function as windows or entertainment systems. </p>
<p>Many cars will be fitted with <a href="https://news.harman.com/blog/harman-and-daimler-bring-the-first-ar-capable-infotainment-system-to-market-with-the-mercedes-benz-a-class">augmented-reality systems</a>, which will superimpose computer-generated visualisations onto the windscreen or other suitable display areas, to ease the passenger’s nerves from relinquishing the wheel by showing what the car is about to do.</p>
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<p>Drivers will be able to communicate with their cars through speech or gesture commands. In high-end models, we may even see some early versions of <a href="https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-major-neuralink-update-soon/">brain-computer interfaces</a>, which would associate patterns of brain activity with commands to control the car or entertain occupants. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42894312">Similar technology</a> has already been used to control prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs.</p>
<h2>Connective technology</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/iot-revolution-5-ways-the-internet-of-things-will-change-transportation">ever-growing</a> internet of things will become central to how our integrated cars move us around and communicate with the outside world. Sensors designed to <a href="https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2019/01/department-of-transportation-v2x-communications">recognise and communicate</a> with upgraded road signs, markings, networks of cameras, pedestrians, and other vehicles will allow cars to synchronise their movement, minimising fuel consumption and <a href="https://www.its.dot.gov/infographs/predicting_future.htm">improving traffic flow</a>. Cars will also be able to help authorities maintain road infrastructure, for example with tyre sensors that notify them of deteriorating road conditions.</p>
<p>When humans choose to take the wheel, technology will warn drivers about impending collisions with other road users, and attempt to avoid them. Improvements in <a href="https://www.thermal.com/automotive.html#">thermal sensor</a> technology are likely to enable cars to see far beyond the illumination range of car headlights. If sufficiently standardised and legislated for, these technologies should substantially reduce the number of road accidents – albeit probably after an <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-autonomous-cars-really-safer-than-human-drivers-90202">initial spike</a>.</p>
<p>While rural drivers will probably still own their cars, cities may move away from car ownership to the use of on-demand vehicles that take the Uber model to the next level. In Moscow, 9m of these journeys are already made <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2018/12/10/moscow-residents-turn-to-car-sharing-after-parking-crackdown-a63769">daily</a>, more than 30 times higher than at the start of 2018.</p>
<h2>Fuels of the future</h2>
<p>Multiple countries and cities have announced upcoming bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-out_of_fossil_fuel_vehicles">many by 2030</a>. <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/93443/petrol-and-diesel-ban-uk-which-cars-will-be-affected">Older vehicles</a> will still be on the road, so petrol stations are unlikely to disappear by this date. However, car makers are already focusing more and more on vehicles that will support the fuels of the future.</p>
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<p>Precisely what that future will look like is unclear. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hybrid-cars-ban-carbon-emissions-uk-environment-a8338611.html">Uncertainty</a> over whether currently popular <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/difference-hybrid-plug-in-hybrid-electric-ev-car/">hybrid cars</a> will be included in vehicle bans may discourage businesses and consumers from investing too much in this path. <a href="https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/future-motoring-what-will-cars-be-25-years">Fully electric</a> vehicles only make up <a href="http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/01/global-top-20-december-2018.html">2%</a> of the global market right now, but as their price drops below that of petrol cars by the <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/net-zero-the-uks-contribution-to-stopping-global-warming/">mid 2020s</a>, their market share will surely balloon.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-battery-powered-vehicles-stack-up-better-than-hydrogen-106844">Why battery-powered vehicles stack up better than hydrogen</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-accidentally-created-a-new-wonder-material-that-could-revolutionise-batteries-and-electronics-115347">We accidentally created a new wonder material that could revolutionise batteries and electronics</a>
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</p>
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<p>By how much depends on to what degree their as yet limited <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/1/18241489/electric-batteries-aircraft-climate-change">range</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-accidentally-created-a-new-wonder-material-that-could-revolutionise-batteries-and-electronics-115347">charging time</a> can be improved, and how much governments invest in currently patchy <a href="https://www.zap-map.com/live/">electric charging networks</a>. We expect fully electric vehicles to at least be a viable choice for a wide range of drivers by 2030 – but unforeseen groundbreaking technological developments could easily change the future of vehicle fuel. For example, scientists are working hard to solve the <a href="https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/electric-cars/93180/hydrogen-fuel-cell-do-hydrogen-cars-have-a-future">production and storage</a> difficulties that currently <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/does-fuel-cell-work-should-buy-hydrogen-car/">limit</a> the potential of clean, fast-fuelling and long-range <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/does-fuel-cell-work-should-buy-hydrogen-car/">hydrogen-powered vehicles</a>.</p>
<p>The year 2030 might not seem too far away, but a decade is a long time for technology to change. In 2008, the first iPhone had only just been <a href="https://www.t3.com/features/a-brief-history-of-the-iphone">released</a>, and climate change was a background issue for governments and media. Now, <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2016/03/22/technology-feels-like-its-accelerating-because-it-actually-is/">technology</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48097150">environmental discourse</a> are changing at an unprecedented rate. So don’t be surprised if you look back at the cars of today in a decade’s time and wonder how we ever got by.</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1116704">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claude Chibelushi receives funding from BMW AG. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Lewis and Debi Roberts do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The year 2030 may not seem far away, but a decade is a long time in technological terms. Widespread automation, electrification, and connectivity are set to revolutionise the car of the future.Dan Lewis, Course Leader, Industrial Design; Product & Transport, Staffordshire UniversityClaude C. Chibelushi, Professor of Cognitive Digital Media Computing, Staffordshire UniversityDebi Roberts, Senior lecturer, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1129582019-03-11T04:14:16Z2019-03-11T04:14:16ZHydrogen fuels rockets, but what about power for daily life? We’re getting closer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262315/original/file-20190306-48450-1q1zozl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NASA has launched all of its space shuttle missions using hydrogen as fuel. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/this-week-in-nasa-history-first-crew-rotation-mission-launches-to-international-space.html">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>To mark the <a href="https://www.iypt2019.org/">International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements</a> we’re taking a look at elements and how they’re used in research and the real world.</em> </p>
<p><em>Hydrogen is the <a href="http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/1/hydrogen">first element</a> on the periodic table. In its pure form hydrogen is a light, colourless gas, but forms a liquid at very low temperatures.</em></p>
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<p>Have you ever watched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnoNITE-CLc">space shuttle launch</a>? The fuel used to thrust these enormous structures away from Earth’s gravitational pull is <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/space-applications-of-hydrogen-and-fuel-cells">hydrogen</a>.</p>
<p>Hydrogen also holds potential as a source of energy for our daily activities – driving, heating our houses, and maybe more. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lightweight-of-periodic-table-plays-big-role-in-life-on-earth-109329">Lightweight of periodic table plays big role in life on Earth</a>
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<p>This month the federal coalition government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/01/coalition-launches-push-for-hydrogen-power-in-energy-policy-reboot">opened public consultation</a> on a national hydrogen strategy. Labor has also pledged to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/22/labor-promises-to-supercharge-hydrogen-industry-as-green-groups-say-no-role-for-coal">set aside funding</a> to develop clean hydrogen. The COAG Energy Ministers meeting in December 2018 indicated <a href="http://www.coagenergycouncil.gov.au/publications/establishment-hydrogen-working-group-coag-energy-council">strong support for a hydrogen economy</a>. </p>
<p>But is Australia ready to explore this competitive, low-carbon energy alternative for residential, commercial, industrial and transport sectors?</p>
<p>There are two key aspects to assessing our readiness for a hydrogen economy - technological advancement (can we actually do it?) and societal acceptance (will we use it?). </p>
<h2>Is the technology mature enough?</h2>
<p>The hydrogen economy cycle consists of three key steps:</p>
<ul>
<li>hydrogen production</li>
<li>hydrogen storage and delivery</li>
<li>hydrogen consumption – converting the chemical energy of hydrogen into other forms of energy. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Hydrogen production</h3>
<p>For hydrogen to become a major future fuel, water electrolysis is likely the best method of production. In this process, electricity is used to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZUgfkPo670&t=31s">split water molecules</a> into hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂).</p>
<p>This technology becomes <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Do-business/Futures/Reports/Hydrogen-Roadmap">commercially feasible</a> when electricity is produced at relatively low costs by renewable sources such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0326-1">solar and wind</a>. Costs may drop further in the near future as the production technology becomes more efficient. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hydrogen-power-can-help-us-cut-emissions-boost-exports-and-even-drive-further-between-refills-101967">How hydrogen power can help us cut emissions, boost exports, and even drive further between refills</a>
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<h3>Hydrogen storage and delivery</h3>
<p>Effective storage and delivery are vital for the safe and efficient handling of large amounts of hydrogen. </p>
<p>Because it is very light, hydrogen has conventionally been compressed at high pressure, or liquefied and stored at an extremely low temperature of -253°C. Taking these steps requires an extra energy investment, so efficiency drops by up to 40%. But current hydrogen storage and delivery still rests on these two technologies – compression and liquefaction – as they are proven and supported by well-established infrastructure and experience. </p>
<p>Another option being explored (but needing further development) is to combine hydrogen with other elements, and then release it when required for use. </p>
<p>Currently, most hydrogen fuel cell cars use carbon-fibre reinforced tanks to store highly compressed hydrogen gas. The cost of tanks will need to lower to make this option more economic (currently <a href="https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1343975">over a few thousands of US dollars per unit</a>). </p>
<h3>Using hydrogen as a fuel</h3>
<p>There are two main ways to convert the chemical energy in hydrogen into usable energy (electrical energy or heat energy). Both of these approaches produce water as the by-product.</p>
<p>A primitive and straightforward way of using hydrogen is to burn it to generate heat – just like you use natural gas for cooking and heating in your home. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.australiangasnetworks.com.au/our-business/about-us/media-releases/australian-first-hydrogen-pilot-plant-to-be-built-in-adelaide">trial planned for South Australia</a> aims to generate hydrogen using renewable electricity, and then inject it into the local gas distribution network. This way of “blending” gases can avoid the cost of building costly delivery infrastructure, but will incur expenditures associated with modifications to existing pipelines. Extensive study and testing of this activity are required. </p>
<p>When used in hydrogen fuel cells, energy is produced when hydrogen reacts with oxygen. This is the technology used by NASA and other operators in space missions, and by car manufacturers in hydrogen fuel cell cars. It’s the most advanced method for hydrogen use at the moment.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Turn up the sound for this hydrogen-fuelled launch.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>It works, but will we accept it?</h2>
<h3>Safety considerations</h3>
<p>As a fuel, hydrogen has some properties that make it safer to use than the fuels more commonly used today, such as diesel and petrol. </p>
<p>Hydrogen is non-toxic. It is also much lighter than air, allowing for rapid dispersal in case of a leak. This contrasts with the buildup of flammable gases in the case of diesel and petrol leaks, which can cause explosions. </p>
<p>However, hydrogen does burn easily in air, and ignites more readily than gasoline or natural gas. This is why hydrogen cars have such robust carbon fibre tanks – to prevent leakages. </p>
<p>Where hydrogen is used in commercial settings as a fuel, strict regulations and effective measures have been established to prevent and detect leaks, and to vent hydrogen. Household applications of hydrogen fuel would also need to address this issue. </p>
<h3>Impact on the environment</h3>
<p>From an environmental perspective, the ideal cycle in a hydrogen economy involves: </p>
<ul>
<li>hydrogen production through using electrolysis to split water</li>
<li>hydrogen consumption via reacting it with oxygen in a fuel cell, producing water as a byproduct. </li>
</ul>
<p>If the electricity for electrolysis is generated from renewable sources, this whole value chain has minimal environment impact and is sustainable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-is-clear-we-have-to-start-creating-our-low-carbon-future-today-104774">The science is clear: we have to start creating our low-carbon future today</a>
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<h2>Moving closer to a hydrogen economy</h2>
<p>Cheap electricity from renewable energy resources is the key in making large-scale hydrogen production via electrolysis a reality in Australia. Internationally it’s already clear – for example, in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0326-1">Germany and Texas</a> – that renewable hydrogen is cost competitive in niche applications, although not yet for industrial-scale supply. </p>
<p>Techniques for storage and delivery need to be improved in terms of cost and efficiency, and manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cells requires advancement. </p>
<p>Hydrogen is a desirable source of energy, since it can be produced in large quantities and stored for a long time without loss of capacity. Because it’s so light, it’s <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Do-business/Futures/Reports/Hydrogen-Roadmap">an economical way to transport energy</a> produced by renewables over large distances (including across oceans). </p>
<p>Underpinned by advanced technologies, with strong support by governments, and commitment from many multinational energy and automobile companies, hydrogen fuel links renewable energy with end-users in a clean and sustainable way. </p>
<p>Let’s see if hydrogen takes off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhenguo Huang receives funding from Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Ever watched a space shuttle launch? The fuel used to thrust these huge structures away from Earth’s gravitational pull is hydrogen. Hydrogen could also be used as a household energy source.Zhenguo Huang, Senior lecturer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1095872019-01-09T19:27:43Z2019-01-09T19:27:43ZHydrogen mobility from renewable energy – it is possible!<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253022/original/file-20190109-32139-1r12mth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C1374%2C903&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FaHyence hydrogene filling station in action.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mcphy.com/en/achievements/fahyence/">McPhy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A reliable energy transition requires the implication of a range of scientific domains: physical, human, social, economic, as well as earth and life sciences, with the particular concern to put the end user in the centre of technology development. As part of the <a href="http://lue.univ-lorraine.fr/fr/article/impact-ulhys">ULHyS project</a> (Université de Lorraine Hydrogène Sciences et Technologies), the University of Lorraine brings together about ten laboratories around five research topics, from hydrogen production to territorial deployment. In this context, several ULHys members were invited to visit the hydrogen filling station <a href="https://mcphy.com/en/press-releases/commissioning-of-the-1st-hrs-in-france-producing-green-h2-on/">FaHyence</a> at Sarreguemines.</p>
<p>Inaugurated in April 2017, FaHyence is the first fuel station in Europe that produces hydrogen by electrolysis on site using green electricity from renewable energies delivered by Electricity of France (EDF). The site has a capacity of 40 kg of hydrogen per day, representing the need of about 20 to 25 vehicles per day for charging pressures between 350 to 420 bar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250480/original/file-20181213-178558-hscf9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sketch of the filling station published with kind authorization of the society EIFER.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ranges of about 350km, without any greenhouse gas emission</h2>
<p>Other hydrogen fuel stations in France include the HyWay project, which has been operational since summer 2018 on the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) site at Grenoble, and two others are under construction at Rodez and Nantes. FaHyence is the result of a collaboration between EDF, EIFER, McPhy, Symbio Fcell and the Urban Conglomeration of Sarreguemines Confluences (CASC). In order to ensure a regular operation of the gas station, about ten hydrogen vehicles run in the urban conglomeration: Electric Kangoo ZE (Renault) equipped by Symbio Fcell with a fuel cell acting as range extender. The PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) type fuel cells run with pure hydrogen and consequently without any greenhouse gas emission with ranges up to 350 km, thereof 200 km thanks to a 33kWh Li-ion battery and 150 km thanks to a 5kWh PEMFC connected to a 1.8 kg hydrogen tank pressurized at 350 bar.</p>
<p>Even if the filling station is not at free access, any vehicle – French, European or international – running on hydrogen can make a recharge after simple authorization apply at the CASC with one evident advantage: the hydrogen filling is completely free. As a consequence, nine additional utility vehicles have been bought in between by other professional partners in the conglomeration and several private German and Belgian users have already filled their reservoirs at Sarreguemines.</p>
<p>FaHyence makes part of the H2ME (Hydrogen Mobility Europe) project funded by the European program FCH JU (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) which aims at deploying 49 hydrogen filling stations and 1,400 vehicles over the EU by 2020. Hydrogen is the third chapter of the sustainable mobility project of FaHyence besides electricity and bio-methane. It is an ambitious living laboratory and an evident application example of hydrogen technology.</p>
<h2>A full tank in four minutes flat</h2>
<p>Users learning how to take advantage of the filling devices has gone smoothly. The interface is classical and the procedure similar to conventional systems using fossil fuel allowed to minimise the adaptation period. Improvements are still needed in terms of ergonomics and interactions, but the operation principle remains quite simple. Compared to hours of charging necessary for conventional battery-based electric vehicles, the four minutes to fill a vehicle’s tank with hydrogen seem to be more than acceptable.</p>
<p>The station contains an alkaline electrolyser with a production capacity of 1.8 kg/h which requires 50 litres of water per kilogram of produce hydrogen. In addition, there is a two-level compressor, the first reaching pressures of about 30 bar, and the second equipped with a cooling circuit down to -20°C allows to reach pressures up to 420 bar. This compression device provides two major advantages: The first is that it allows to fill not only hydrogen vehicles at 350 bar (case of FC-EV such as the Kangoo ZE), but as well, for sure with some volume limitations, electric vehicles operating with hydrogen requiring filling pressures of 700 bar and reaching ranges of about 450 km (case of FCV such as the Toyota Mirai, the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell and the Hyundai Nexo…). The second advantage is that the cooling system reduces the filling time to four minutes compared to seven minutes for systems operating at ambient temperature.</p>
<h2>An under-exploited gas station which could easily become competitive</h2>
<p>“Hydrogen technology itself is not the limiting factor”, says Christian Hector, head of the technical service of Cofluences and initiator of the FaHyence project. “The most constraining element is the electrolyser”. With an average of 2.2 fuelings per day, representing barely 5% of its nominal capacity, the station is clearly under-exploited. As a consequence, the per-filling cost remains too high to be competitive with classical systems. While the per-kilogram cost of hydrogen depends on local conditions; at Sarreguemines it is 10€ per kg, and the national average is of about 6€ per kg. Note that it takes about 1 kg of hydrogen to travel 100km.</p>
<p>For the station to be cost-efficient, a minimum of 30 vehicles daily filling their tank would be required. “But the economic profit was not the motivation of this project,” says Hector. “The purpose was to test electric mobility in a cross-border context, as well as to validate the technical reliability of a hydrogen gas station in combination with an electrolyser on-site”. Even if the future of this station, whose financial support ends in 2020 remains uncertain, the objectives have been reached and this thanks to the tenacity of Hector and his green mobility team at the CASC.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The development of a hydrogen charging station has made it possible to run vehicles without producing greenhouse gases.Robin Vivian, Maitre de conférences, Université de LorraineJulia Mainka, Maître de Conférences, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1068442018-11-30T04:47:44Z2018-11-30T04:47:44ZWhy battery-powered vehicles stack up better than hydrogen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245460/original/file-20181114-194500-iw2c1a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=233%2C0%2C3760%2C2245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A battery electric vehicle in The University of Queensland's vehicle fleet.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Low energy efficiency is already a major problem for petrol and diesel vehicles. Typically, only 20% of the overall <a href="https://definedterm.com/well_to_wheel_wtw">well-to-wheel</a> energy is actually used to power these vehicles. The other 80% is lost through oil extraction, refinement, transport, evaporation, and engine heat. This low energy efficiency is the primary reason why fossil fuel vehicles are emissions-intensive, and relatively expensive to run.</p>
<p>With this in mind, we set out to understand the energy efficiency of electric and hydrogen vehicles as part of a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328782184_Where_are_we_heading_with_electric_vehicles">recent paper</a> published in the <a href="https://www.casanz.org.au/shop/publications/casanz-air-quality-journal/">Air Quality and Climate Change Journal</a>.</p>
<h2>Electric vehicles stack up best</h2>
<p>Based on a wide scan of studies globally, we found that battery electric vehicles have significantly lower energy losses compared to other vehicle technologies. Interestingly, however, the well-to-wheel losses of <a href="https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fuelcell.shtml">hydrogen fuel cell vehicles</a> were found to be almost as high as fossil fuel vehicles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245474/original/file-20181114-194494-a7nqpf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Average well-to-wheel energy losses from different vehicle drivetrain technologies, showing typical values and ranges. Note: these figures account for production, transport and propulsion, but do not capture manufacturing energy requirements, which are currently marginally higher for electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles compared to fossil fuel vehicles.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first, this significant efficiency difference may seem surprising, given the recent attention on using hydrogen for transport.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hydrogen-power-can-help-us-cut-emissions-boost-exports-and-even-drive-further-between-refills-101967">How hydrogen power can help us cut emissions, boost exports, and even drive further between refills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While most hydrogen today (<a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy.pdf">and for the foreseeable future</a>) is produced from <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/hydrogen_production.html">fossil fuels</a>, a zero-emission pathway is possible if renewable energy is used to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://publications.anl.gov/anlpubs/2015/10/121551.pdf">extract and treat water</a> </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis">“crack” the water into hydrogen</a></p></li>
<li><p>liquefy or compress the hydrogen to an economic volume <em>(1 kg of hydrogen takes up 12 cubic metres @ standard atmospheric pressure; 1 kg of hydrogen = roughly 100 km driving range)</em></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-delivery">transport hydrogen for distribution</a></p></li>
<li><p>and finally deliver hydrogen to a fuel cell vehicle. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Herein lies one of the significant challenges in harnessing hydrogen for transport: there are many more steps in the energy life cycle process, compared with the simpler, direct use of electricity in battery electric vehicles. </p>
<p>Each step in the process incurs an energy penalty, and therefore an efficiency loss. The sum of these losses ultimately explains why hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, on average, require three to four times more energy than battery electric vehicles, per kilometre travelled.</p>
<h2>Electricity grid impacts</h2>
<p>The future significance of low energy efficiency is made clearer upon examination of the potential electricity grid impacts. If Australia’s existing 14 million light vehicles were electric, they would need about 37 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year — a 15% increase in national electricity generation (roughly equivalent to Australia’s existing annual renewable generation). </p>
<p>But if this same fleet was converted to run on hydrogen, it would need more than four times the electricity: roughly 157 TWh a year. This would entail a 63% increase in national electricity generation. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/AVadvice">Infrastructure Victoria report</a> reached a similar conclusion. It calculated that a full transition to hydrogen in 2046 – for both light and heavy vehicles – would require 64 TWh of electricity, the equivalent of a 147% increase in Victoria’s annual electricity consumption. Battery electric vehicles, meanwhile, would require roughly one third the amount (22 TWh).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-electric-cars-can-help-save-the-grid-73914">How electric cars can help save the grid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some may argue that energy efficiency will no longer be important in the future given some forecasts suggest Australia could reach <a href="http://energy.anu.edu.au/files/Australia%27s%20renewable%20energy%20industry%20is%20delivering%20rapid%20and%20deep%20emissions%20cuts.pdf">100% renewable energy as soon as the 2030s</a>. While the current political climate suggests this will be challenging, even as the transition occurs, there will be competing demands for renewable energy between sectors, stressing the continuing importance of energy efficiency.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/at-its-current-rate-australia-is-on-track-for-50-renewable-electricity-in-2025-102903">At its current rate, Australia is on track for 50% renewable electricity in 2025</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It should also be recognised that higher energy requirements translate to higher energy prices. Even if hydrogen reached price parity with petrol or diesel in the future, electric vehicles would remain 70-90% cheaper to run, because of their higher energy efficiency. This would save the average Australian household <a href="https://thedriven.io/2018/10/03/how-australia-can-save-20-billion-a-year-by-switching-to-evs/">more than A$2,000 per year</a>.</p>
<h2>Pragmatic plan for the future</h2>
<p>Despite the clear energy efficiency advantages of electric vehicles over hydrogen vehicles, the truth is there is no silver bullet. Both technologies face differing challenges in terms of infrastructure, consumer acceptance, grid impacts, <a href="https://www.toi.no/getfile.php/1348918/Publikasjoner/T%C3%98I%20rapporter/2018/1655-2018/1655-2018-elektronisk.pdf">technology maturity and reliability</a>, and driving range (the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage">volume needed for sufficient hydrogen</a> compared with the battery energy density for electric vehicles). </p>
<p>Battery electric vehicles are not yet a suitable replacement for every vehicle on our roads. But based on the technology available today, it is clear that a significant proportion of the current fleet could transition to be battery electric, including many cars, <a href="https://www.createdigital.org.au/electric-buses-public-transport-future/">buses</a>, and <a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-company-creating-sea-change-towards-electric-trucks-54816/">short-haul trucks</a>.</p>
<p>Such a transition represents a sensible, robust and cost-efficient approach for delivering the significant transport emission reductions required within the short time frames outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/">report on restraining global warming to 1.5°C</a>, while also reducing transport costs.</p>
<p>Together with other energy-efficient technologies, such as the <a href="https://www.pdc.wa.gov.au/news-media-2/news-media/study-reveals-solar-could-be-pilbaras-next-big-energy-export">direct export of renewable electricity overseas</a>, battery electric vehicles will ensure that the renewable energy we generate over the coming decades is used to reduce the greatest amount of emissions, as quickly as possible. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-norths-future-is-electrifying-powering-asia-with-renewables-17286">The north's future is electrifying: powering Asia with renewables</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile, research should continue into energy efficient options for long-distance trucks, shipping and aircraft, as well as the broader role for both hydrogen and electrification in reducing emissions <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hydrogen-in-a-low-carbon-economy.pdf">across other sectors of the economy</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Electric_Vehicles/ElectricVehicles">Federal Senate Select Committee on Electric Vehicles</a> set to deliver its final report on December 4, let’s hope the continuing importance of energy efficiency in transport has not been forgotten.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Jake Whitehead is a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, Director of Transmobility Consulting, and is a member of the Australian Labor Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>I am an Adjunct Professor with University of Technology Sydney, a honorary senior fellow with the University of Queensland and chair of the Transport Special Interest Group of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Washington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s unclear exactly what mix of technologies will drive the zero-emission vehicles of the future. But in terms of ‘well-to-wheel’ efficiency, electric batteries outperform hydrogen.Jake Whitehead, Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandRobin Smit, Adjunct professor, The University of QueenslandSimon Washington, Professor and Head of School of Civil Engineering, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824522017-08-17T02:38:44Z2017-08-17T02:38:44ZOf renewables, Robocops and risky business<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182350/original/file-20170817-27872-jzrxxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What a gas: one of Moreland's new hydrogen-powered garbage trucks.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Takver/Flickr.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A while ago I asked <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-types-of-people-will-lead-our-great-energy-transition-75909">what types of people will lead our great energy transition</a>.</p>
<p>Well, some of them seem to be living in North Melbourne. Earlier this month I watched as Victoria’s Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio announced <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/building-australias-first-hydrogen-refuelling-station/">A$1 million for a hydrogen refuelling station</a> to power zero-emission local government vehicles. The money, from the <a href="http://www.business.vic.gov.au/support-for-your-business/future-industries/new-energy-technologies">New Energy Jobs Fund</a>, will sit alongside A$1.5 million that <a href="http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au">Moreland Council</a> is investing over three years. </p>
<p>The Council hopes that rainwater it harvests from its buildings can be turned into fuel, with the help of power from its solar panels and wind turbines, which can in turn be used to run its fleet of garbage trucks. If (and it is an if) everything works, then residents get less air and noise pollution, and the council gets a smaller energy bill and carbon footprint. You can read my account of the launch <a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/moreland-council-launches-hydrogen-powered-garbage-truck-scheme-35203/">here</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, there are doubters. One commenter under my report wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It amazes me how anybody could still think [hydrogen fuel cells] are a step in the right direction for domestic land transportation. Their inherent lack of efficiency compared to batteries, difficulty with storage, explosion risk and the cost of building the support infrastructure has been demonstrated innumerable times.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet Japan is <a href="http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/en/category/whitepaper/">planning for 800,000 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles by 2030</a>. Are all of these governments really backing the wrong horse?</p>
<p>This is the nub of the problem: technological outcomes generally become clear after the fact, and rarely before. After a “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_design">dominant design</a>” has survived the battles then hindsight, via historians, tells us it was obvious all along which type of gizmo was going to win.</p>
<p>Scholars have long pointed out that this is a fallacy – starting with the <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/social-construction-technological-systems-0">humble bicycle</a>. The truth is that technological innovation is not the clean predictable process that pristine white lab coats and gleaming laboratories would have us think. </p>
<p>The history of technology is littered with the carcasses of superior ideas that were killed by inferior marketing (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax">Betamax</a> tapes, anyone?). Meanwhile there are the success stories that only happened through serendipity – such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sildenafil#History">Viagra</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging#History">text messages</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-it_note#History">Post-it notes</a>. Sometimes technologies simply don’t catch the public eye, and their proponents withdraw them and repurpose them (hello <a href="http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/07/the-rebirth-of-google-glass-on-the-factory-floor.html">Google Glass</a>).</p>
<p>Even the most successful technologies have teething problems. Testing prototypes is not for the faint-hearted (as anyone who’s seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZZhhA87d6g">Robocop</a> will vividly remember).</p>
<p>If there’s no clear and obvious technological route to follow, then an industry can end up “<a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/perseverate">perseverating</a>” – repeating the same thing insistently and redundantly. As these <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733314002091">two</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nenergy201613">studies</a> show, the American car industry couldn’t decide what should replace the internal combustion engine, and so hedged their bets by flitting between various flavours of the month, from biofuels to LPG to hybrids and everything in between.</p>
<h2>Risky business</h2>
<p>This is what makes Moreland Council’s choices so interesting. It might make “more sense” to wait and see, to let someone else run all the risks, and then be a fast follower, with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/youre-better-off-being-a-fast-follower-than-an-originator-2010-10?r=US&IR=T">advantages and disadvantages</a> that entails. But of course if everyone does that, then nothing ever gets done. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, if civil society is pushing for change, and a council’s own political makeup shifts (the Greens did well in the last local elections), and there are determined officers, then an experiment can be conducted. Coincidentally enough, Moreland Council’s chief exective Nerina Di Lorenzo recently completed a PhD on local governments’ attitudes to risk. Within a year or three she’ll no doubt have enough material for a post-doc.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill seems to have lost all hope that the black hole-sized vacuum in federal energy and climate policy will ever be fixed. He has famously commissioned the world’s biggest <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/sa-to-get-worlds-biggest-lithium-ion-battery/8687268">lithium battery</a> and, now, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-australia-can-function-reliably-while-moving-to-100-renewable-power-73199">long-awaited</a> concentrated solar thermal power plant <a href="https://twitter.com/JayWeatherill/status/896965896610095104/photo/1">in Port Augusta</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"896965896610095104"}"></div></p>
<h2>Learning process</h2>
<p>What we are seeing in Moreland is a local council and its state government acting together (what academics snappily call “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_governance">multilevel governance</a>”), while further west we have another state government that has resolved to push its chips onto the green baize and spin the roulette wheel.</p>
<p>Will these experiments work? Will the right lessons be learned, from either failure or success (or more likely, living as we do in the real world, a mixture of both)? How can the “successful” technologies (however that is defined) be scaled up at tremendous speed, so we somehow clamber up the learning curve faster than we slither up the <a href="https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/">Keeling Curve</a> of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels?</p>
<p>Can it be done? We need industrial quantities of luck, and optimism. And seriously – what do we have to lose by trying, other than the love of some vested interests?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A local council goes for hydrogen. A state government goes for lithium and mirrors. They are taking punts on technology. What are the risks?Marc Hudson, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/806922017-07-10T12:44:32Z2017-07-10T12:44:32ZWhy Volvo going ‘all-electric’ is not as revolutionary as it seems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177516/original/file-20170710-29726-1tjsikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement from Volvo that all of its new models from 2019 will include an element of electric vehicle technology was a PR coup for the Swedish car maker. It received a disproportionate amount of attention as the <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/05/volvo-first-major-car-company-scrap-combustion-engine-design-transport-news/">“first major car company”</a> to switch to all-electric. But the <a href="https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/210058/volvo-cars-to-go-all-electric">statement</a> by their CEO Hakan Samuelson that this “marks the end of the solely combustion engine powered car”, is more a reflection of Volvo’s position in the market than any justification of a global change. </p>
<p>Volvo, known for decades <a href="https://www.thebrandbite.com/2014/01/15/volvo-brand-positioning-safety-end-of-volvo/">for its safety</a>, has fallen behind other manufacturers when it comes to environmental credentials. It recently introduced hybrid versions of the XC90, XC60, S90 and V90. But let’s not forget that Toyota introduced the mass-produced hybrid, its Prius, worldwide in the year 2000. Toyota now have <a href="http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-sales-rising-globally-says-toyota/">around 80% of the global market</a> for hybrid vehicles. </p>
<p>The question we should be asking is why Toyota or any of the other mainstream manufacturers have not come out with the same proposition to end the role of solely combustion engine powered cars? The answer lies in the fact that the major part of Volvo’s sales take place in Europe, the US and China. These markets have the potential to have the basic infrastructure in place that’s needed to support the electrification of vehicles. </p>
<p>Other manufacturers have a more global perspective and appreciate that in parts of the world such as Africa and parts of South America the idea of a regular supply of electricity for basic needs is of more pressing concern than the facility to plug in an electric vehicle. To some extent this position is really an admission that Volvo has limited expansion plans in developing markets and is happy to concentrate in its more established countries. A cynic might also suggest that the move helps the company meet the new <a href="http://www.acea.be/industry-topics/tag/category/euro-standards">more stringent EU emissions targets</a> that are due to be introduced over the next few years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177518/original/file-20170710-29730-n4r4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hybrids use two power sources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/photos/41628">Volvo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hybrid vehicles, by their very nature, require two power sources. One is a small, usually petrol-fuelled engine that charges the battery that drives the car. There are also more sophisticated developments that involve charging the battery while the car brakes but these are usually supplementary to the main form of electricity generation. Volvo’s claim gives the impression that petrol engines are a thing of the past when, with the current technology, they are still a critical part in the hybrid system. </p>
<h2>New infrastructure</h2>
<p>For car companies there is at least one major issue with a truly and entirely electric future. This prospect would mean that for the first time it would be those providing the infrastructure that would dictate what was happening in the motor industry. </p>
<p>Electric vehicles work well when the driver can charge the vehicle on a regular and convenient basis, usually overnight. This is fine if you have a driveway and a power source available. If, however, you live in a block of flats or in a terraced property there is a major issue. Battery life and access to a charging point add barriers in potential customers’ minds over the purchase of an electric vehicle. This makes the hybrid alternative a much more attractive proposition for all the major manufacturers who have or are in the process of developing hybrid models.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177523/original/file-20170710-22784-4nd4ly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More charge points are needed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Volvo’s announcement also steals the show from perhaps the most interesting discussion about the future of cars. That’s whether or not hydrogen-powered vehicles will dominate the market – either as part of a hybrid system or as a fully hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine. There is only the Toyota Mirai available in a <a href="http://www.mytoyotamirai.com/toyota-mirai-availability/">few developed markets</a> and <a href="http://www.businesscar.co.uk/tests/2017/toyota-mirai-review">only 3,000 have been sold globally</a>. The reason: a serious shortage of refuelling stations.</p>
<p>The emissions from these vehicles is water and they are claimed to be environmentally neutral. Toyota and Hyundai have made major advances in this area but face the bigger problem of building the infrastructure to refuel hydrogen-powered cars. The installation of refuelling stations would require significant investment.</p>
<p>So, despite Volvo’s claims, the future of motoring will undoubtedly still include a petrol engine in some format in the immediate future. The only way that this is likely to change is if governments divert their infrastructure spending away from rail into opening up greener alternatives for drivers. This would improve the environment while still allowing the mobility that a car gives to people in everyday use. Even with car ownership declining in some cities, something will have to power the buses and taxis – and the cleaner that can be, the better for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Saker has received research funding in the past from the EPSRC and BMW (UK). He does not currently hold external funding. He is vice president of the Institute of the Motor Industry.</span></em></p>Volvo might be the first car company to go all-electric, but it’s far from the market leader and petrol will continue to be relied upon.Jim Saker, Director of the Centre for Automotive Management , School of Business and Economics, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/658542016-09-27T14:41:18Z2016-09-27T14:41:18ZMaking space rocket fuel from water could drive a power revolution on Earth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139407/original/image-20160927-14603-18cgxw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.nasa.gov/#/details-ARC-2006-ACD06-0232-001.html">NASA/Northrop Grumman/William Furlong</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers led by NASA’s former chief technologist are hoping to launch a satellite carrying water as the source of its fuel. The team <a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/09/cornells-quest-make-first-cubesat-orbit-moon">from Cornell University</a>, guided by Mason Peck, want their device to become the first shoebox-sized “CubeSat” to orbit the moon, while demonstrating the potential of water as a source of spacecraft fuel. It’s a safe, stable substance that’s <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/the-solar-system-and-beyond-is-awash-in-water">relatively common</a> even in space, but could also find greater use here on Earth as we search for alternatives to fossil fuels.</p>
<p>Until we develop a warp drive or some other futuristic propulsion system, space travel is likely to rely largely on the kind of propellant-based rockets we use today. These work by firing gas out of the rear of the vehicle in a way that, thanks to the <a href="https://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/TRCRocket/rocket_principles.html">laws of physics</a>, pushes it forward. Such propulsion systems for satellites need to be lightweight and carry a lot of energy in a small space (high energy density) in order to continuously pack a powerful punch over the many years, or even decades, that the craft are in orbit.</p>
<p>Safety too is of prime concern. Packing energy into a small volume and mass in the form of a fuel means even the slightest issue can have disastrous consequences, as we saw with the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/spacex-explosion-shows-why-we-must-slow-down-private-space-exploration-until-we-rewrite-law-65019">SpaceX rocket explosion</a>. Putting satellites in orbit with any form of unstable fuel on board could spell disaster for expensive hardware or even worse, human life.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139409/original/image-20160927-14625-1s3dkje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cornell’s CubeSat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cornell University/Kyle Doyle</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Water is a way around this issue because it is essentially an energy carrier rather than a fuel. <a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/09/cornells-quest-make-first-cubesat-orbit-moon">The Cornell team</a> isn’t planning to use water itself as a propellant but to rather use electricity from solar panels to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen and use them as the fuel. The two gasses, when recombined and ignited will burn or explode, giving out the energy that they took in during the splitting process. This combustion of gasses can be used to drive the satellite forward, gaining speed or altering its position in orbit of whichever desired planet or moon is the target.</p>
<p>Solar panels, with high reliability and no moving parts, are ideally suited to operate in zero gravity and in the extreme environments of space, producing current from sunlight and allowing the satellite to actively engage on its mission. Traditionally this energy is stored in batteries. But the Cornell scientists want to use it to create their fuel source by splitting the on-board water.</p>
<h2>Extra-terrestrial electrolysis</h2>
<p>The proposed process – known as electrolysis – involves running a current through a water sample usually containing some soluble electrolyte. This breaks down the water into oxygen and hydrogen, which are released separately at the two electrodes. On Earth, gravity would then be used to separate the gasses so they can be harvested and used. In the free-flowing zero gravity of space, however, the satellite has to use centrifugal forces from rotation to separate the gases from the solution.</p>
<p>Electrolysis has been use in space before to provide oxygen supplies for manned space missions without the need for high-pressure oxygen storage tanks, for example on the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast13nov_1">International Space Station</a>. But instead of sending water into space in heavy loads on rockets, we could also one day extract it from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-capture-an-asteroid-and-why-we-should-go-to-such-trouble-58973">moon or asteroids</a>. If the novel approach of using both the hydrogen and oxygen for satellite fuel proves successful, we could have a ready source of it waiting for us in space. This means it could shape how we power at least some of the spacecraft of the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139408/original/image-20160927-14628-zwiw1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell car ‘Mirai’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Toyota</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From satellites to cars</h2>
<p>As is often the case, developments in space technology are pushing concepts that have the potential to help overcome significant energy problems here on Earth. Electricity is really difficult to store and, as we increase our renewable energy supplies, we need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-renewables-boom-need-for-energy-storage-is-more-urgent-27537">buffer the supply and demand</a>. Wind and solar farms are really inefficient forms of renewable energy, not because of problems with the generating technology but because we often cannot do anything useful with the energy that they produce. The electricity grid struggles at times of high production and low energy need.</p>
<p>The answer, as in outer space propulsion, could involve using surplus electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This produces a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-hydrogen-fuel-making-a-comeback-22299">storable, transportable commodity</a> in the form of hydrogen fuel. When the energy is needed, it can be released by recombining it with oxygen from the atmosphere. This can either be done in a fuel cell to produce electricity again, or by burning it in a combustion engine or a hydrogen gas burner.</p>
<p>Welsh <a href="https://theconversation.com/riversimples-hydrogen-fuel-cell-rasa-gives-car-design-a-clean-slate-54993">start-up firm Riversimple</a> – along with major car manufacturers Toyota and Volkswagen – is already producing hydrogen fuel-cell cars. So if the hydrogen is produced from solar energy in the same manner as Cornell’s satellite, this space technology could become part of your everyday life sooner than you think.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Dunnill receives funding from Welsh Government and the Welsh European Funding Office. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Phillips receives funding from the Welsh Government as part of a Ser Cymru studentship. </span></em></p>Plans to send a satellite around the moon using fuel from water point to a renewable future.Charles W. Dunnill, Senior Lecturer in Energy, Swansea UniversityRobert Phillips, PhD Student in Renewable Energy Storage, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/549932016-02-22T13:55:27Z2016-02-22T13:55:27ZRiversimple’s hydrogen fuel cell Rasa gives car design a clean slate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112146/original/image-20160219-25901-vzuyvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Back to basics in the home of the fuel cell</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riversimple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prototype of a car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell was unveiled this month by the Welsh company Riversimple. The company has named its vehicle named “Rasa” after the Latin phrase <em>tabula rasa</em>, which means: clean slate. </p>
<p>This is not the first fuel cell car – we already have <a href="https://ssl.toyota.com/mirai/fcv.html">Toyota’s Mirai</a>, while Honda made its <a href="automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/">FCX Clarity fuel cell car</a> available to carefully selected clients for lease some years ago and is due to unveil a successor this year. But the Rasa is very different – while Japanese and Korean companies tend to follow the North American design principle of simply adding the fuel cell technology to a traditional vehicle template, Riversimple has, in many respects, gone back to the beginning; hence the name: clean slate.</p>
<p>And where better to develop such a car than in Wales, which has traditionally supported low-carbon vehicle technologies – and where <a href="http://www.cleantechinvestor.com/portal/fuel-cells/6455-fuel-cell-history.html">Sir William Groves first invented the hydrogen fuel cell</a>?</p>
<p>Riversimple’s founder and chief engineer, Hugo Spowers, has long argued that the technology in previous fuel cell vehicles was unnecessarily complex and expensive. This has created an impression in the market – and the wider industry – that hydrogen fuel cell technology is inherently expensive. Spowers says that, scaled down, a fuel cell system doesn’t need to be particularly costly – but a small fuel cell powertrain (the components, including the engine, that essentially make the car go) can only power a light car. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112144/original/image-20160219-25876-862r0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sleek and simple – but can the Rasa compete?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riversimple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, Riversimple has developed a car not unlike the “<a href="http://www.hypercars.com/">hypercar</a>” concept developed in the 1990s by Rocky Mountains Institute founder Amory Lovins. Lovins argued that cars needed to shed half their weight, but that once you started aiming for this you would find that all sorts of onboard systems could be downsized as well, or removed altogether, leaving you effectively with a vehicle only a quarter of the weight of a conventional car – what he called a “<a href="http://www.iisd.org/business/tools/principles_factor.aspx">factor four</a>” improvement.</p>
<p>The Riversimple Rasa weighs in at only 580kg, compared with the original Lotus Elise at 770kg, or the first generation Smart at 752kg. This is achieved by intensive use of carbon fibre and aluminium and, like the Elise and Smart, the Rasa is also a two-seater. Though once regarded as an expensive technology – which when optimised for aerospace or Formula 1 applications it can be – much work, particularly in the UK in recent years, has shown that, for ordinary road cars, cheaper methods of using this material are possible. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hRKg2ajTF4U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Yet these advanced features of the car overshadow the equally interesting fact that it is accompanied by a new automotive business model: the car is not for sale, but can be leased as part of a transport provision package. While leasing is also used by Toyota and Honda as a way of marketing their fuel cell cars, in this case as the car ages it is gradually leased to less demanding customers at a lower cost. Eventually the vehicle will go back to Riversimple for refurbishment and re-leasing. The car therefore becomes the means and not the end for running the business. </p>
<p>The facilities for assembling the car and dealing with it over its lifetime follow a dispersed manufacturing model of small, local facilities, rather than the large, centralised factories of conventional car manufacturers. This is made possible by the technologies used, particularly the body/chassis system, which operates<a href="https://icc.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/2/183.short">at much lower level of economies of scale than conventional steel body technology</a> – meaning that the more are produced, the cheaper it gets to make each one.</p>
<p>However, some issues remain. Despite there being are a number of hydrogen (H2) production facilities in the UK –- three along the M4 corridor in south Wales alone –- it is not readily available to consumers. In this respect, the Rasa’s launch is well timed, as H2 infrastructure will also be needed by the Toyota Mirai and its competitors. In the meantime, Riversimple will put hydrogen filling points near the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6c90aa8-c8dc-11e5-be0b-b7ece4e953a0.html#axzz40WqlKDDe">20 or so trial users</a> of this first generation of Rasas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112143/original/image-20160219-25855-1sq4bbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Rasa’s stripped down interior doesn’t compromise on style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riversimple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Questions also remain over the production of hydrogen. Unlike petrol or diesel, it is not a fuel, but an energy carrier and has to be produced from hydrocarbons, or by splitting water. The latter, in particular, can be very energy intensive, while the former often involves using fossil fuels, the source of most current hydrogen production. </p>
<p>At the same time, experiments are taking place – in Germany, for example – using hydrogen to store excess electricity generated from renewable sources. This may work if such technologies are adopted more widely, although current UK energy policy seems to prefer a 20th-century approach rather than embracing such new technologies.</p>
<p>Some may also question whether we still need fuel cell electric cars with the advent of battery-electric cars. Spowers sees a role for both and deliberately positions the Rasa as a local vehicle for commuting, shopping, social visits and the like. This way, like the many <a href="http://www.fuelcells.org/uploads/fcbuses-world1.pdf">fuel cell buses</a> in use around the world, it never strays far from its fuelling point. This means that unlike an EV in similar use it would only need to refuel once a week or so, rather than every day. The 300 mile range of the Rasa beats the Nissan Leaf, a battery EV targeted at a similar market, which can travel up to 155 miles between charges.</p>
<p>Overall the Rasa certainly does wipe the slate clean for Britain’s sustainable car industry. Whether it will prove to be the best option will no doubt be apparent after the 12-month trial due to start later this year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Nieuwenhuis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Will the Rasa be a clean slate for the advancement of fuel cell cars?Paul Nieuwenhuis, Senior Lecturer and Co-Director, Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence (EVCE), Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481942015-10-06T13:35:50Z2015-10-06T13:35:50Z‘Dieselgate’ is the wake-up call to look seriously at alternative car technologies<p>We should thank Volkswagen for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-vw-test-fixing-is-just-the-start-of-the-car-industrys-problems-48192">wake-up call</a>. The scandal that has engulfed the company has highlighted how an overwhelming focus on carbon dioxide emissions has oversimplified the debate about the negative impacts of all our combustion engines. </p>
<p>Yes, looking at CO<sub>2</sub> works well to quantify effects on global climate and fossil resource depletion, but health impacts are a more complex story. “Dieselgate” is forcing people to realise that most vehicles also produce harmful chemically reactive substances such as nitrogen oxides or tiny particulate matter. </p>
<p>This insight has reached the highest ranks of UK government, where <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/03/uk-volkswagen-emissions-cameron-idUKKCN0RX0VB20151003">diesel subsidies may soon become re-examined</a>. In fact particulate matter may be responsible for as many as 3m prenatal deaths globally every year, according to a <a href="http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature15371">recent study in Nature</a>.</p>
<p>No one can tell at this point if this is <a href="https://theconversation.com/volkswagen-ceo-has-fallen-on-his-sword-but-is-it-the-death-of-diesel-47980">the end of the diesel engine</a> but surely now is the right moment to look towards cleaner and more sustainable ways to power a car.</p>
<p>Two key technologies are on the rise: electric vehicles, including hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles which run off hydrogen. The problem for electric vehicles is most people like to stay in their comfort zone and are worried about charging stations and mileage. The industry recently <a href="http://evobsession.com/one-million-evsphevs-sold-worldwide-date/">passed the threshold of 1m global sales</a> in total, half of these sold since July 2014, but it is still behind targets set by the US and other governments. </p>
<p>Fuel cell vehicles are a better match with existing habits. Their energy comes from hydrogen stored in a high-pressure tank which then reacts with water to produce electricity that powers the drive train. This allows for mileages similar to those of conventional cars while being refuelled within <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-34278051">a few minutes</a>. <a href="http://www.hyundai.co.uk/about-us/environment/hydrogen-fuel-cell">Hyundai</a> and <a href="http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/environmental_technology/fuelcell_vehicle/">Toyota</a> already have small numbers of these vehicles on the market, and some other brands are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/business/honda-introduces-vehicle-powered-by-hydrogen.html">not far behind</a>. </p>
<p>Hydrogen suffers from a long-standing damaged reputation since the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/05/75-years-since-the-hindenburg-disaster/100292/">Hindenburg disaster</a> in the 1930s. But lots has changed in the past eight decades. These days, the hydrogen isn’t stored in a flimsy airship but in a tank made of a highly stable carbon composite so the risk of it catching fire is minimal. Hydrogen cars can now be considered as safe as petrol or diesel cars, <a href="http://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/high-pressure-hydrogen-tank-testing">even in crashes</a>.</p>
<p>The more recent fuelling stations extract hydrogen from water by running a current through it, effectively converting electrical energy into hydrogen fuel (you may remember doing this exact water electrolysis experiment in school). This all takes place on site, next to where the hydrogen is then stored ready for drivers to use. Doing everything in the one place – essentially all you need to bring is electricity and water – helps avoid transporting hydrogen fuel around in trucks. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HQ9Fhd7P_HA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">High-school science: water electrolysis.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A point commonly raised in this context is the fact that electricity production still largely relies on fossil fuels and that hydrogen production through electrolysis is not the most efficient way of using that primary energy. And, if one really wished to have hydrogen, the “cheaper” way was large-scale production out of natural gas. But this leads back to the important differentiation between localised emissions that harm your health and global emissions that damage the atmosphere: even if the hydrogen production involves fossil fuels, fuel cell cars are still considerably better for your lungs.</p>
<p>Even the global emissions will benefit from a hydrogen economy in the long run: hydrogen can be stored in tanks, thus allowing for the production of more hydrogen at times of electricity oversupply. Hence, hydrogen fuels will become an <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/energy-reimagine-fuel-cells-1.18392">essential buffer</a> to help smooth out increasing gaps between supply and demand in the electric grid of the future. That grid will be increasingly dominated by solar and wind power – which follow weather and daylight patterns – and nuclear power, which provides a solid base supply but cannot dynamically react to demand fluctuations either.</p>
<p>Economically, all three technologies are <a href="https://theconversation.com/sun-and-wind-could-finally-make-electricity-too-cheap-to-meter-34166">dominated by capital expenditure rather than fuel costs</a>, so producing hydrogen at times when no one else needs the electricity may become even cheaper than today. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96644/original/image-20150929-31002-z70rol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hydrogen is produced on site from wind-generated electricity at this refuelling station in Yorkshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ITM Power</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hydrogen refuelling stations are stuck in the same chicken-egg problem that battery-charged vehicles had to overcome. This calls for large strategic investments to ensure that a critical mass of cars powered by fuel cells can be reached and operated, which will then drive down the costs of refuelling stations. </p>
<p>Given such stations can be developed and produced in the UK, rolling out hydrogen refuelling infrastructure will serve a double purpose: it paves the way for cleaner air along our roads and it gives the country an opportunity to lead rather than to react in a rising technology.</p>
<p>We should be more than a market for the hydrogen technology that is already embraced and pushed forward by the big technology nations: Japan, Korea, China, and the US. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/serious-issues-for-george-osborne-on-chinas-role-in-the-uks-nuclear-future-48541">recent discussion around the proposed nuclear power plant at Hinkley</a>, French-owned and Chinese-funded, had a similar ring to it. Why is the country that once built the first civil nuclear power plant in the position of a technology-importing customer? On hydrogen, it’s time to take the lead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harry Hoster does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The VW emissions scandal is an opportunity to forge ahead with fuel cell technology for cars.Harry Hoster, Director of Energy Lancaster and Professor of Physical Chemistry, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222992014-01-31T03:30:29Z2014-01-31T03:30:29ZWhy is hydrogen fuel making a comeback?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40267/original/yvfv2nbj-1391135262.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C19%2C3291%2C2622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Back on the road: a hydrogen-fuelled car at a US trade show.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/MICHAEL NELSON/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We hear a lot about wind, solar and nuclear energy in the fight to reduce carbon emissions, but it seems we’ve forgotten about hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen — made by splitting water — was considered energy-intensive and expensive to make. But new plans for hydrogen fuel cells in cars show hydrogen made using renewable energy may yet get its time in the sun.</p>
<h2>New hydrogen initiatives</h2>
<p>Toyota, Hyundai and Honda are all planning production models of hydrogen fuel cell cars for release in 2015.</p>
<p>Meanwhile in Germany, energy company Enertrag is building a 500 kilowatt <a href="https://www.enertrag.com/en/project-development/hybrid-power-plant.html">electrolyser system</a> to generate hydrogen by splitting water. But instead of using the electricity grid (and fossil fuels), it is using surplus wind power at the new Berlin Brandenberg international airport. The hydrogen produced will supply electricity and heat, and fuel cell vehicles.</p>
<p>Last year the US Department of Energy <a href="http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-launches-public-private-partnership-deploy-hydrogen-infrastructure">launched H2USA</a>, a partnership of automakers, gas suppliers, and hydrogen technology companies to support the development of hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell electric vehicles. It was a signal that the Obama administration was changing its previous negative stance towards hydrogen. </p>
<p>A similar public-private partnership, the <a href="http://www.ukh2mobility.%20co.uk">UK H2 Mobility Study</a>, was formed in the UK.</p>
<p>Hydrogen is inextricably being linked to renewables in energy strategies to meet radical greenhouse targets. Hydrogen can store renewable energy for powering vehicles and supply 100% reliable electricity.</p>
<h2>Hydrogen held back</h2>
<p>In 2003 US President George W. Bush boldly announced that America would lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles. So how did hydrogen get stuck in the doldrums for so long?</p>
<p>Progress was steadily made in improving fuel cell performance, durability and costs. But there was no dramatic breakthrough in hydrogen storage. Solid-state metal hydride storages did not live up to their early promise, so that hydrogen gas compressed to 350 or 700 times atmospheric pressure remained the best option in terms of energy stored per unit mass and volume.</p>
<p>The radical nature of the shift from petroleum fuels to hydrogen started to scare many policy makers and corporate executives. Unlike biofuels, everything had to be changed with hydrogen: the fuel, storage and distribution infrastructure, and on-vehicle power unit.</p>
<p>Meanwhile advances continued to be made in lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles. The battery electric system appeared so much simpler and easier to introduce than the hydrogen fuel cell system.</p>
<p>The influential environmental movement has been ambivalent about hydrogen, because since the early 1970s the proponents of the “hydrogen economy” have often embraced production of hydrogen from fossil fuels and nuclear energy, as readily as from renewables.</p>
<h2>Hydrogen and climate change</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wene.103/abstract">recent review</a> of global and national “sustainable” energy strategies has found that understanding of the role hydrogen can play is still very patchy.</p>
<p>The 2012 International Energy Agency’s <a href="http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/">World Energy Outlook</a> clearly rang the alarm bells that current world energy policies are inexorably leading the earth to a rise in mean surface temperature of 3.6C, that is, well above the 2C that the IPCC recommends as the safe limit.</p>
<p>Energy efficiency was strongly recommended, but hydrogen is mentioned only once, and not as a fuel. </p>
<p>Like many governmental energy policy units, the IEA appears to have a blind spot with respect to hydrogen.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the IPCC report, <a href="http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/IPCC_SRREN_Full_Report.pdf">Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation</a>, included an essential role for hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are expected to compete strongly with other low or zero emission options such as biofuels and electric vehicles.</p>
<p>A 2013 <a href="http://http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319912024950/">study</a> showed hydrogen would have a vital role in meeting the UK’s carbon emissions goal. The report projected hydrogen would supply 85% of road transport demand, and about 70% of total transport demand in general by 2050. </p>
<h2>The comeback</h2>
<p>Hydrogen is now back on the agenda, for three main reasons.</p>
<p>First, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can still provide a much greater range than battery electric vehicles, with a refuelling time of less than five minutes compared to six to eight hours for batteries.</p>
<p>Second, the costs of producing hydrogen from renewables by water electrolysis, and of fuel cells, have fallen over the past decade as dramatically as that for solar panels. For example, the high-volume production cost of fuel cells fell from $275 per kilowatt in 2002 to <a href="http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/">only $51 per kilowatt</a>.</p>
<p>Third, we now understand that there are many severe constraints on biofuel production. These include competition with food production, and the use of water, land, and fertilisers. </p>
<p>Despite the emerging opportunities for hydrogen energy, Australia is virtually alone among developed countries in not having any demonstration or trial of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and refuelling stations.</p>
<p>We have just one fuel cell manufacturer, <a href="http://www.cfcl.com.au/">Ceramic Fuel Cells</a>, who make a high-temperature solid-oxide combined heat and power system for buildings, but no manufacturer of the lower-temperature Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells for cars and stationary power. </p>
<p>At a time when the Australian automotive industry, and manufacturing industry generally, are searching for new directions, hydrogen technologies are now well worth detailed governmental and private sector investigation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Andrews receives research funding from Defence Materials Technology Centre and Defence Science Institute. He is a director of the Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy.</span></em></p>We hear a lot about wind, solar and nuclear energy in the fight to reduce carbon emissions, but it seems we’ve forgotten about hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen — made by splitting water — was considered energy-intensive…John Andrews, Associate Professor, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158212013-07-05T14:44:34Z2013-07-05T14:44:34ZHydrogen car progress hasn’t stalled yet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26985/original/c5frjv9c-1373027050.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=215%2C0%2C671%2C342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">BBC presenter Quentin Willson fills up at Nottingham's hydrogen station.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nottingham University</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The promise that hydrogen cars would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector has been with us for a couple of decades. Readers may well have wondered what, like <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2011/10/18/back-to-the-future-2-hoverboard-moves-closer-to-reality-after-breakthrough-186931/">hoverboards</a>, has happened to these inventions, and why they’re not driving round our streets.</p>
<p>The city of Copenhagen <a href="http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/32781/hyundai-delivers-first-fuel-cell-cars-to-copenhagen-hydrogen-station-built-in-just-48-hours/">recently announced</a> it had rolled out a fleet of 15 <a href="http://www.hyundai.co.uk/new-cars/ix35">Hyundai ix35</a> hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), while in the UK the same car has been driving around the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e8dM8nwdbE">University of Nottingham</a>, which has a new ITM Power HFuel hydrogen fuelling station. So at least hydrogen cars, unlike Marty McFly’s hoverboard, aren’t just a figment of our imaginations.</p>
<p>Believe it or not the very first spark-ignition, internal combustion engine-powered vehicle was built <a href="http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/hydrogencars1807-1986.htm">as far back as 1807</a> by the Swiss inventor, Isaac de Rivaz - and it ran on hydrogen. This was not well received at the time, as it was not seen as competitive compared to the new steam engine technology. The first fuel cell was demonstrated by Sir <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247199/Sir-William-Robert-Grove">William Robert Grove</a> in 1839, but it took another 100 years before a 5kW fuel cell was successfully developed, by <a href="http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Bacon's_Fuel_Cell">Francis Thomas Bacon</a> and was only suitable for stationary applications.</p>
<p>Hydrogen power works by reacting hydrogen and oxygen together in an electrochemical fuel cell to produce an electric current (which can drive a motor) and water. A big difference between a fuel cell and battery is that a fuel cell needs only to be re-filled with hydrogen, like a petrol tank, whereas a rechargeable battery needs to be plugged into a power supply and recharged - which can take hours.</p>
<p>Hydrogen fuel cell efficiency can be greater than 50%, but a problem with using them in cars has been size and cost. The first compact hydrogen fuel cells able to fit in a car were not developed until the mid 1990s. An early example of a FCEV is the <a href="http://www.mazda.com/csr/environment/making_car/index_2.html">Mazda Demio</a>, which stored hydrogen in a metal hydride and was powered by a 20kW fuel cell. In comparison, the new Hyundai ix35 FCEV has a 700 bar compressed gas storage tank and is powered by a 100kW fuel cell.</p>
<p>What’s great about hydrogen is that it contains a lot of energy by volume - it’s <a href="http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/education/pdfs/thomas_fcev_vs_battery_evs.pdf">volumetric energy density</a> is high.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26982/original/dnbhhwbm-1373025867.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hydrogen packs a lot of punch into not a lot of space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CE Thomas/H2 Gen Innovations</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hydrogen fuel cells can provide 400 Watt-hours per litre (Wh/l) - which is twice that for Lithium-ion batteries, and much more than other battery types like NiMH. So a hydrogen car with 5kg of hydrogen in the tank would have a 205-litre fuel cell system - to provide the same by battery power, it would mean filling an extra 200 litres of space in the cabin or boot with batteries. So a more energy-dense fuel means more can be carried, giving the vehicle a greater range between refuelling stops.</p>
<p>The common perception that hydrogen cars compete against battery cars is really illusory - the technologies complement each other.</p>
<p>Another barrier that hydrogen cars face in trying to break into the market is cost. The <a href="http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fcv_PEM.shtml">polymer electrolyte membrane</a> (PEM) fuel cells need platinum to speed up the chemical reaction of the hydrogen gas, and reducing this amount has obviously led to a dramatic drop in cost. Results from the US Department of Energy programme for the projected high volume manufacturing costs of PEM fuel cells have shown a drop from $275 per kW down to $49 per kW between 2002 and 2011. This is getting very close to the department’s 2017 target of $30 per kW for hydrogen cars, deemed to be the threshold for commercial viability.</p>
<p>An important means to reduce cost is <a href="http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/joint_plenary_satyapal_2012.pdf">volume production</a> - there can be significant reduction in cost just through efficiency of scale. It’s been estimated that the fuel cell system costs drop by up to 70% just from increasing numbers manufactured from tens to thousands. To put that into context, those Hydundai cars now on the streets of Copenhagen retail for around £130,000 each. As the first production line hydrogen car, Hyundai are in a good position to capitalise on this economy of scale, helping to bring the cost down to a figure more comparable to a diesel vehicle.</p>
<p>The prospect for a market for hydrogen cars is looking very promising - huge improvements in the fuel cell performance and significant cost reductions. The joint government-industry project <a href="http://www.itm-power.com/project/ukh2mobility/">UKH2Mobility</a> has estimated that annual sales of hydrogen cars in the UK could reach 10,000 by 2020 as the cost approaches that of diesel vehicles.</p>
<p>Sounds like it’s not just optimists and inventors who think hydrogen cars are coming, and that it won’t be long before we’re driving into the future - lets just hope hydrogen filling stations are not as rare as hoverboards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Walker receives funding from Research Councils UK, TSB, ERDF, E.ON. He works for the University of Nottingham.</span></em></p>The promise that hydrogen cars would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector has been with us for a couple of decades. Readers may well have wondered what, like hoverboards, has…Gavin Walker, Professor of Sustainable Energy, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.