Hydrogen and FCEVs discussion thread

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Via GCC:
Hyundai Motor reveals next generation fuel cell concept at Geneva Motor Show; new SUV Fuel Cell model set for launch in 2018
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170307-hyundaife.html

. . . The FE Concept showcases Hyundai Motor’s fourth-generation of hydrogen fuel cell technology . . . When compared with the current generation system used in the Tucson ix35 Fuel Cell, the new technology is 20% lighter, and achieves 10% greater efficiency. In addition, the power density of the fuel cell stack is increased by 30%, boosting the car’s range significantly. . . .

The car is designed to run for more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) between refueling, acknowledging the current limited hydrogen infrastructure. Elements of the FE Fuel Cell Concept will influence an SUV Fuel Cell model set for launch in 2018, which will feature advanced Hyundai Smart Sense driver assistance technologies, alongside an extensive hydrogen-powered range. . . .
Assuming that 800 km (497 miles) is on either the NEDC or the Japanese test, multiplying by 0.7 translates to about 348 miles EPA, 83 miles/31% better than the Tucson.

Another article: http://insideevs.com/hyundai-debuts-497-mile-futuristic-fe-fuel-cell-concept/
 
Air Products lowers Hydrogen to $9.99 per kg at 5 stations in CA. Cites increased usage volume and improved in station tech as reasons for the drop. No indication if pricing will roll out to other Air Products stations.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170407-airp.html
 
jhm614 said:
Air Products lowers Hydrogen to $9.99 per kg at 5 stations in CA. Cites increased usage volume and improved in station tech as reasons for the drop. No indication if pricing will roll out to other Air Products stations.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170407-airp.html
Already mentioned in the Ca. H2 stations topic. IIRR, there was already one station charging $9.59 or maybe it was $9.49/kg before this, but this was the first announcement of sub-$10/kg H2 by a chain.
 
Via GCC, lab results but moving towards commercialization:
Cambridge team demonstrates light-driven photoreforming of unprocessed biomass to H2 at room temperature
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170314-cambridge.html

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has reported the light-driven photoreforming of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin to H2 using semiconducting cadmium sulfide quantum dots in alkaline aqueous solution.

The system operates under visible light, is stable beyond six days and is even able to reform unprocessed lignocellulose, such as wood and paper, under solar irradiation at room temperature, presenting an inexpensive route to drive aqueous proton reduction to H2 through waste biomass oxidation. . . .

The team achieved high rates of H2 evolution, without the photocorrosion of CdS or noble-metal co-catalysts, through use of highly basic conditions that synergistically enabled formation of robust CdS/CdOx and dissolution of lignocellulose.

The oxidation reaction generates CO2 that is sequestered as carbonate, resulting in an overall negative CO2 balance in the atmosphere when taking into account the CO2 fixation required for biomass growth.

Noting that the system’s tolerance to a range of substrates is “particularly appealing” for H2 generation without need for lignocellulose processing, the researchers are now focusing on replacing the Cd with a more environmentally benign metal. . . .

With the help of Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialization arm of the University, a UK patent has been granted and talks are under way with a potential commercial partner.
 
Via GCC:
Successful first test run of Alstom Coradia iLint fuel cell train; signed letters of intent for 60 trainshttp://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170315-alstom.html

Alstom successfully performed the first test run at 80 km/h (50 mph) of the fuel cell passenger train Coradia iLint (earlier post) on its own test track in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony (Germany). An extensive test campaign will be conducted in Germany and Czech Republic in the coming months before the Coradia iLint performs its first passenger test runs on the Buxtehude–Bremervörde–Bremerhaven–Cuxhaven (Germany) route beginning of 2018. . . .

The hydrogen used for the test runs is the by-product of an industrial process, which is reasonably reused as a waste product. In the long term, Alstom aims to support the hydrogen production from wind energy. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Hydrogenics to supply electrolyzers to Doosan Babcock for Aberdeen
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170328-hydrogenics.html

Hydrogenics Corporation . . . has been awarded a contract by Doosan Babcock Limited to install two of its HySTAT100 electrolyzers, along with compression and storage equipment, at the new Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Hydrogenics electrolyzers will convert fluctuating power—up to 1 megawatt—into 20 kilograms of hydrogen per hour, at the highest efficiency possible, complementing the combined heat and power natural gas fuel cell application installed at the AECC.

Hydrogenics expects to deliver the electrolyzers in late 2017, providing more than 300 kilograms of hydrogen storage capacity. . . .
 
SoCal (South Bay) update:

1. Removal of Shell H2 pumps on 190th & Western across from Toyota USA corporate.
2. New Honda Clarity billboard near NB 405 in Hawthorne.

One exits and two (Honda/Hyundai) continue?
 
lorenfb said:
SoCal (South Bay) update:

1. Removal of Shell H2 pumps on 190th & Western across from Toyota USA corporate.
2. New Honda Clarity billboard near NB 405 in Hawthorne.

One exits and two (Honda/Hyundai) continue?
Per the CAFCP station status link,
This station is closed for upgrade and planned to reopen in July 2017. A mobile fueler is available 7 days a week and is behind the visitor center.
http://m.cafcp.org/content/torrance

It appears they're upgrading this dem/val site to a full retail station.
 
Via GCC:
Ascend Energy and Atrex Energy demo tubular SOFC electric ATV, fueled by natural gas
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170329-ascend.html

. . . The project was supported by a $146,283 Energy Innovations Small Grant (EISG) from the California Energy Commission.

Ascend worked with Tructronics Inc., idea Solutions Design, and JB Mechanical to integrate and install a commercial 1000 Watt Atrex Energy fuel cell power generator fueled with compressed natural gas in an all-electric Polaris Ranger ATV. ATVs are in common use in California farms, ranches and orchards as a utility vehicle but the gasoline-fueled versions make a significant contribution to poor air quality in the farm regions of the state.

The SOFC electric ATV has been in durability, performance and emissions testing for months and has exceeded all expected results, the partners said. With more than 100 miles on the vehicle, the range and durability has been shown. The range increased 300% using a real world 2.3-mile (3.7 km) off-road test loop; fuel consumption was one-third that of the conventional gasoline version under the same conditions; and the fuel cell vehicle had no detectable nitrogen oxide emissions (a key component of smog) in contrast to the 100+ parts per million of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust from the gasoline vehicle.

The demonstration also showed the vehicle could be the most economical form of a fuel cell hybrid in terms of fuel cost. A conventional vehicle with a gasoline engine would use $9 of fuel to go 100 miles. A hybrid electric-type vehicle would require $7.50 worth of fuel. A hydrogen fuel cell car at today’s prices of hydrogen would use $20 of fuel for the same trip. An equivalent ceramic fuel cell vehicle would use only $6 worth of fuel.

The next step is to test the vehicle using propane, a much more common fuel found on farms, and see if the results are similar. . . .
 
Via GCC:
ClassNK releases guidelines for liquefied hydrogen carriers
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170330-classnk.html

. . . Realizing the practical use of hydrogen, will require economically viable and environmentally friendly production as a secure supply chain to transport hydrogen to the place of consumption. As the most efficient way for long distance and large volume transportation, carriage of LH2 by a ship is anticipated to expand.

Currently, the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code) outlines safety requirements for gas carriers such as LNG. However, there are no specific requirements defined in the code applicable for LH2 carriers that take into account the hazards associated with the handling and transport of LH2. . . .

ClassNK has developed its Guidelines for Liquid Hydrogen Carriers which provide safety requirements for the design and construction of LH2 carriers. The guidelines consist of safety requirements applicable to LH2 carriers based on the IMO Interim Recommendations, various international standards as well as additional requirements taking specific hazards arising from the handling of LH2 into consideration.
 
Both Via GCC:
SoCalGas & UC Irvine show power-to-gas technology able to boost use of intermittent renewable energy significantly
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170331-p2g.html

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) announced that new research on power-to-gas technology shows the technique holds the ability to significantly increase the use of intermittent renewable energy. The finding came out of ongoing research conducted at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and funded by SoCalGas.

Preliminary research findings, announced this week at UCI’s International Colloquium on Environmentally Preferred Advanced Generation (ICEPAG), demonstrated that the campus microgrid could increase the portion of renewable energy it uses from 3.5% to 35% by implementing a power-to-gas strategy.

  • The ability to increase the mix of renewables on campus by tenfold is truly significant. With power-to-gas technology, you don’t need to stop renewable power generation when demand is low. Instead, the excess electricity can be used to make hydrogen that can be integrated into existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure and stored for later use. The Southern California Gas Company system alone is made up of over 100,000 miles of pipeline. This study suggests that we could leverage that installed infrastructure for storage and significantly increase the amount of renewable power generation deployed in California.

    —Jack Brouwer, associate professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering and civil & environmental engineering at UCI and associate director of the Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP) . . . .

A 5% blend of hydrogen in SoCalGas’ natural gas system would provide storage capacity equivalent to $130 billion worth of battery systems if purchased at the US Department of Energy future cost of $200 per kilowatt hour. Renewable hydrogen can also be used in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or converted to methane for use in a natural gas pipeline and storage system. . . .

The study used data from the UCI campus microgrid, which includes solar panels that produce about 4 megawatts of peak power. Simulations showed that by storing excess solar power on sunny days and using an electrolyzer to produce renewable hydrogen, the microgrid could support an additional 30 megawatts of solar panels. The increased solar deployment raised the fraction of renewable power used on campus from 3.5% to 35%.

HYREADY collaboration supports introduction of power-to-gas H2 into natural gas infrastructure
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/03/20170331-hyready.html

The HYREADY joint industry project (JIP), led by DNV GL, intends to encourage the industry to “Be ready for Hydrogen” by developing practical processes and procedures for the introduction of hydrogen to the grid. HYREADY focuses on the consequences of H2 added to natural gas in an existing specific network and on feasible countermeasures to mitigate these consequences.

The intermittent nature of renewable sources such as wind and solar demands large-scale temporal energy storage to balance electricity demand and production. The huge capacity of the existing natural gas grid could play an important role in this balancing, and could also offer additional energy transmission capacity.

Several studies have been carried out on the impact of hydrogen added to natural gas on public safety aspects, the integrity of materials used in the natural gas delivery chain and the performance of end-use equipment. However, concrete engineering guidelines for transmission and distribution system operators on how to prepare their systems for a specific percentage of hydrogen are lacking.

  • There is a great deal of industry interest in the maximum percentage of hydrogen that can be added to natural gas. To successfully introduce hydrogen into natural gas grids, the impact and acceptability need to be assessed to evaluate amongst other things, public safety, system integrity, integrity management and energy transport capacity. HYREADY will develop industry guidelines addressing the ‘how-to’ questions for gas system operators so they can be confident both in preparing their natural gas grids for the accommodation of hydrogen and in assessing and managing the effects and possible consequences related to hydrogen injection.

    —Onno Florisson, Principal Consultant and DNV GL project manager
. . . .
 
Daimler Steps Back From Fuel-Cell Car Development
http://fortune.com/2017/04/02/daimler-fuel-cell-car-development/

Daimler AG head Dieter Zetsche said at an automotive summit in Germany this week that hydrogen fuel cells are no longer a major part of the automaker’s plans for the future. ...

...Daimler’s move (perhaps more than Musk’s less-than-objective rhetoric), undermines Toyota’s emphasis on fuel-cell cars in recent years. Toyota's initiative is part of a broader Japanese government plan to create a “hydrogen economy,” but as of February Toyota had only sold 2,840 of its Mirai fuel-cell vehicles worldwide.
 
Via GCR, albeit nothing terribly new:
All the challenges for hydrogen fuel-cell cars laid out
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109684_all-the-challenges-for-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-laid-out

. . . In Japan, an energy group named Iwatani is beginning to build a network of refueling stations, but the process is time-consuming and expensive. Japanese regulations classify hydrogen as an industrial gas, so the refueling stations need to comply with strict safety regulations. Iwatani consequently spends about 500 million Japanese yen (roughly $4.5 million) to build each station, according to the Financial Times (subscription required), which is more than twice the cost of an equivalent site in the United States. . . .

Direct link to the original Financial Times article on which the GCR one is based: https://www.ft.com/content/328df346-10cb-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d
 
BOOM... large German auto manufacturer drops the hydrogen game:

http://insideevs.com/daimler-to-says-goodbye-to-fuel-cells-will-focus-on-plug-in-electric-vehicles/

I'm sure somebody will 'splain us why Daimler / Mercedes Benz is wrong.
 
Via GCC:
Ballard closes transaction with Broad-Ocean for fuel-cell system manufacture & sales in China
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/04/20170407-ballard.html

Ballard Power Systems closed the transaction announced in February 2017 relating to technology transfer, licensing and supply arrangements with strategic partner Zhongshan Broad-Ocean Motor Co., Ltd. for the assembly and sale of FCveloCity 30-kilowatt (kW) and 85kW fuel cell systems in China.

In each of the three assembly operation locations, Broad-Ocean plans to engage with local governments as well as with bus and commercial vehicle OEMs for deployment of fuel cell buses and commercial vehicles incorporating Ballard-designed modules manufactured by Broad-Ocean. . . .

Government of Canada awarding $1.625 million for two public hydrogen stations in Toronto
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/04/20170407-canadah2.html

. . . Budget 2016 allocated $16.4 million for the deployment of electric vehicle recharging and alternative fuel refueling infrastructure. Once successfully completed, the projects under this funding will establish more than 80 new charging units for electric vehicles, as well as nine natural gas and three hydrogen refueling stations along key transportation corridors.
 
Via IEVS:
Hyundai Hydrogen Fuel Cell SUV Will Have 500 Miles Of Range
http://insideevs.com/hyundai-hydrogen-fuel-cell-suv-500-miles-range/
This has previously been mentioned in the thread, and we should undoubtedly multiply that by say .7 to reflect real world U.S. results. There is some further info:

. . . But Hyundai not only wants to lead in range, but also infrastructure. “We want to lead the changes in terms of technology,” said Kim Sae-hoon, who oversees fuel-cell technology at Hyundai. “When there is industrial restructuring and emergence of new technologies, it gives a new opportunity to us.” In total, Hyundai sold just 242 ix35 fuel-cell vehicles last year compared to Toyota’s 2,050 Mirais sold, 1,000 of which were in Japan.

Already the South Korean government has announced a goal of putting more than 10,000 FCVs on the road, exporting 14,000 units, and installing more than 100 charging stations by 2020. A so-called “Hydrogen Council” set up earlier in the year hopes to put those plans in to place with a more than $10 billion investment.
We'll see how much of this actually happens. I'm sure they'll get the cars and buses out in time for the Olympics, but the rest strikes me as being a lot more questionable.
 
Via GCC:
NREL sets new world efficiency record for solar hydrogen production: 16.2%
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/04/20170413-nrel.html

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recaptured the record for highest efficiency in solar hydrogen production via a photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting process.

The new solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency record is 16.2%, topping a reported 14% efficiency in 2015 by an international team made up of researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, TU Ilmenau, Fraunhofer ISE and the California Institute of Technology. A paper in Nature Energy outlines how NREL’s new record was achieved. . . .

Other methods that use sunlight entail additional loss-generating steps. For example: Electricity generated by commercial solar cells can be sent through power conversion systems to an electrolyzer to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen at an approximate STH efficiency of 12%. Turner’s direct method set a long-unmatched STH efficiency record of 12.4%, which has been surpassed by NREL’s new PEC cell.

Before the PEC technology can be commercially viable, the cost of hydrogen production needs to come down to meet DOE’s target of less than $2 per kilogram of hydrogen. Continued improvements in cell efficiency and lifetime are needed to meet this target. Further enhanced efficiency would increase the hydrogen production rate per unit area, which decreases hydrogen cost by reducing balance-of-system expenditures.

In conjunction with efficiency improvements, durability of the current cell configuration needs to be significantly extended beyond its several hours of operational life to dramatically bring down costs. NREL researchers are actively pursuing methods of increasing the lifespan of the PEC device in addition to further efficiency gains. . . .
 
Via IEVS:
BMW Launching Low Volume FCEV In 2021
http://insideevs.com/bmw-launching-low-volume-fcev-2021/

. . . BMW CEO Harald Krueger didn’t offer specific details about the project, according to BMW Blog, but he said it would be for “larger model series and long distances. . . ."

“However, until 2025 at least costs will remain too high and the hydrogen infrastructure too sparse to allow broad-based market penetration,” BMW development boss Klaus Fröhlich recently said, according to BMW Blog. “By the time the fundamentals are in place, the BMW Group will also have marketable products ready that are attractive to customers. . . .”
 
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