Hydrogen and FCEVs discussion thread

[GRA]

Via GCC:

California Energy Commission approves $8M grant for H2 fueling station at Port of Long Beach

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... 8-cec.html

. . .The station is to dispense enough fuel at 700 bar pressure for 10-15 fuel cell electric trucks (FCETs) per day. . . .

The station will source hydrogen from 100% renewable biogas. . . .

The newly funded project will provide evidence of scalability by delivering station performance data for very large capacity stations (800 kg of hydrogen in 12 hours and 1,000 kg/day), which will augment current data collection efforts managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). . . .

[GRA]

Via GCC:

ICL team assesses relative costs of carbon mitigation for 12 H2 production paths; trade-off between cost and level of decarbonization

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... 9-icl.html

A team at Imperial College London has examined the relative costs of carbon mitigation from a lifecycle perspective for 12 different hydrogen production techniques using fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewable sources. An open-access paper on their work is published the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science.

• As with all comparisons between fossil routes and renewables, cost and emissions data are frequently misused by advocates of all parties to push policy-makers and public opinion further along the polarizing debate of the role of fossil fuels in a low-carbon system. The best approach to decarbonizing hydrogen supply at least cost is not to champion or demonize specific technologies, but to jointly provide evidence to policy-makers to support higher levels of climate ambition.
  
  Ultimately, the development of low-CO2, large-scale and economically competitive hydrogen production processes is fundamental to the production of low-carbon fuels, fertilizers and other petrochemicals. To achieve this, there is a significant amount of research going on to improve the performance of existing methods and to find new promising routes to generate hydrogen.
  
  —Parkinson et al.

Their results show a trade-off between the cost of mitigation and the proportion of decarbonization achieved. The most cost-effective methods of decarbonization still utilize fossil feedstocks due to their low cost of extraction and processing, but only offer moderate decarbonization levels due to previous underestimations of supply chain emissions contributions.

Methane pyrolysis may be the most cost-effective short-term abatement solution, but its emissions reduction performance is heavily dependent on managing supply chain emissions while cost effectiveness is governed by the price of solid carbon.

Renewable electrolytic routes offer significantly higher emissions reductions, but production routes are more complex than those that utilize naturally-occurring energy-dense fuels and hydrogen costs are high at modest renewable energy capacity factors.

Nuclear routes are highly cost-effective mitigation options, but could suffer from regionally varied perceptions of safety and concerns regarding proliferation and the available data lacks depth and transparency.

They note that better-performing fossil-based hydrogen production technologies with lower decarbonization fractions will be required to minimize the total cost of decarbonization but may not be commensurate with ambitious climate targets. . . .

What you'd expect.

[GRA]

GCC:

CSIRO to partner with Fortescue on hydrogen technologies; focus on metal membrane technology

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... csiro.html

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, will partner with Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) on hydrogen technologies to support the development of new industries, create jobs and pave the way for low emissions export opportunities.

The centerpiece of the $20-million partnership is an investment in CSIRO’s metal membrane technology, which enables ammonia to be used as a carrier material for hydrogen storage and transport. (Earlier post.)

CSIRO will work with Fortescue to identify, develop and commercialize technologies to support the creation of an Australian hydrogen industry and future global uptake.

The agreement includes commercialization arrangements for the membrane technology, with a subsequent five-year investment in hydrogen R&D.

CSIRO’s National Hydrogen Roadmap, released earlier this year, provided a coordinated blueprint for growing Australia’s hydrogen industry and found that an economically-sustainable hydrogen industry could soon be a reality. (Earlier post.) . . .

[GRA]

GCC:

Air Liquide to build $150M liquid hydrogen plant in US; long-term agreement with, investment in FirstElement Fuel

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... quide.html

Air Liquide expects to invest more than US$150 million to build a liquid hydrogen plant in the western United States, with construction to begin in early 2019. Further, Air Liquide has signed a long-term agreement with FirstElement Fuel Inc (FEF), a leader in retail hydrogen infrastructure in the US, to supply renewable hydrogen to FEF’s retail liquid hydrogen fueling stations in California.

The plant will have a capacity of nearly 30 tons of hydrogen per day—an amount that can fuel 35,000 Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). Through this investment, Air Liquide will enable the large-scale deployment of hydrogen mobility on the west coast, providing a reliable supply solution to fuel the 40,000 FCEVs expected to be deployed in the state of California by 2022.

The plant will also support other fuel cell vehicle and transportation markets in the region, such as material handling and forklifts and heavy duty trucks. . . .

The pace of FCEV deployment has now reached a level requiring a growing scale of investment and is paving the way for the growth of zero emission mobility in other geographies.

In addition to the long-term supply agreement, Air Liquide and FEF have entered into an agreement outlining Air Liquide’s intent to make an equity investment in FEF, following previous assistance to the company by Toyota and Honda.

With these agreements, Air Liquide also builds upon its existing collaborations with Toyota and Honda to further enable a robust hydrogen fueling infrastructure and, along with others, bolster the deployment of fuel cell electric vehicles and the retail fueling infrastructure in California. . . .

Currently FirstElement operates 19 of its True Zero retail hydrogen stations with 12 more under development. The True Zero Network of stations spans from San Diego, throughout Orange County, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and out to Santa Barbara and Lake Tahoe.

Since the opening of its first station in January 2016, the True Zero Network has completed over 230,000 successful fills, eliminated more than 52 million gasoline miles and replaced them with zero emission fuel cell miles, and avoided over 32 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions (in CO2 equivalence).

[GRA]

GCC:

Nuvera sells its PowerTap hydrogen generator assets to OneH2

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... nuvra.html

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Nuvera Fuel Cells, LLC, signed a definitive agreement to contribute substantially all of its PowerTap hydrogen generator assets, excluding related intellectual property, to OneH2, a hydrogen fuel company. The terms of the agreement also provide OneH2 with a limited license to produce PowerTap hydrogen generators.

In exchange, Nuvera will receive an approximately 15% ownership interest in OneH2 and a seat on OneH2’s Board.

OneH2 has developed an innovative, delivered hydrogen solution that provides a simple, low-cost installation option for hydrogen infrastructure to allow for the rapid deployment of fuel cell solutions. OneH2’s solution enables a fast and seamless transition from battery or internal combustion power to fuel cell power for most lift truck users, while other solutions generally require high fixed costs and long installation periods.

This simplified solution enables users to gain the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell power more quickly and allows customers the flexibility to increase their use of fuel cells at a pace which meets their needs. The OneH2 system also provides users a convenient pathway into on-site hydrogen fuel availability for over the road trucks and passenger vehicles. . . .

Also GCC:

Hydrogenics awarded contract for aircraft fuel cell development & supply

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... enics.html

Hydrogenics Corporation has been selected to design and supply fuel cell power modules for a new lightweight aircraft. Under development by a customer that wishes to remain undisclosed for competitive reasons, this electric air mobility vehicle will be used for daily commuting and other applications.

Over the course of 2019 Hydrogenics will develop and supply an ultra-light fuel cell system which will be the main propulsion unit for this aircraft. . . .

[GRA]

GCC:

Hyundai Motor outlines FCEV Vision 2030; $6.7B investment in fuel cells by 2030; 700K fuel cell systems annually by 2030

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/1 ... undai.html

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), which includes automotive brands Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation, announced its long-term roadmap for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology: FCEV Vision 2030. Aligned with the roadmap, Hyundai Motor Group (The Group) will boost its annual fuel-cell systems production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030 and explore new business opportunities to supply its fuel-cell systems to other transportation manufacturers of automobiles, drones, vessels, rolling stocks and forklifts. . . .

The Group plans to secure a 500,000-units-a–year FCEV production capacity by 2030, including passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, in anticipation of high demand for global FCEVs expanding to around 2 million units a year within that timeframe.

As the first step to fulfill the FCEV Vision 2030, HMG’s fuel-cell system manufacturing affiliate Hyundai Mobis Co. held a groundbreaking ceremony for its second fuel-cell system plant in Chungju, South Korea. The second factory will help Mobis increase annual fuel-cell system output to 40,000 units by 2022, up from the current 3,000 units. . . .

In December, Hyundai Motor Group established a dedicated division to develop and support fuel-cell system businesses.

[GRA]

GCC:

Port of Valencia to incorporate fuel cell vehicles in operations as part of €4M H2Ports project

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/0 ... encia.html

The Port of Valencia will be the first port in Europe to incorporate hydrogen energy in its operations as part of the European H2Ports project.

A reach stacker and a terminal tractor for ro-ro operations will be the first machines propelled by hydrogen fuel cells. The pilot project also includes the installation of a mobile hydrogen supply station which in the initial phase of the project will work in the Grimaldi (Valencia Terminal Europa) and MSC terminals in the Port of Valencia.

The H2Ports project will entail a total investment of €4 million . . . This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCHJU).

[GRA]

All GCC:

RONN Motor Group signs two JV partnerships in China to develop hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/0 ... -ronn.html

AFC Energy demonstrates EV charger based on hydrogen fuel cell technology

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/0 ... afc-1.html

. . . The demonstration of AFC Energy’s CH2ARGE system took place at Dunsfold Aerodrome, with a BMW i8 as the first car to be recharged with power generated by a hydrogen fuel cell.

CH2ARGE includes AFC Energy’s small-scale fuel cell connected to an inverter. The inverter transfers energy created by the fuel cell to a charger. The system is supported by a 48V battery pack to assist with peak power demands. The solution can also be tailored for both on- and off-grid applications and scale up as required.

The demonstration CH2ARGE system was sized to provide sufficient power to charge two EVs concurrently at recharging levels 1, 2 or 3. The system’s inverters are controlled via AFC Energy’s fuel cell control system; product solutions can be implemented with Smart Charging capabilities. . . .

DOE to issue a funding opportunity announcement on H2@Scale

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/0 ... scale.html

. . . The focus of H2@Scale is to enable affordable and reliable large-scale hydrogen generation, transport, storage, and utilization in the United States across multiple sectors. . . .

SQL errors, so I can't quote more.

[Oilpan4]

Is there a way to liberate hydrogen that's more efficient than the steam reforming of natural gas?

[SageBrush]

Is there a way to liberate hydrogen that's more efficient than the steam reforming of natural gas?

One of the most promising I have read about is (very) high temperature electrolysis but I think it awaits advances in metallurgy to handle the high temps at reasonable cost over prolonged use. It would appear to be a natural fit for Solar thermal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temp ... ectrolysis

Hydrogen is not idiocy per se, although the usual discussions are.
If electricity is the main energy source used to make it -- don't. Use the electricity directly
If fossils are used to make it --- just don't.
If the hydrogen is used preferentially to make electricity -- don't. The conversion losses are too high and reliable, inexpensive fuel cells are no where on the horizon.
HOWEVER, hydrogen is almost a drop in replacement for NG, and its natural role is for heating.
Once hydrogen can be made efficiently it can be long term electricity storage, and heating when electrically driven heat pumps are inefficient.