The viability of hydrogen transportation markets: Chicken or egg?
September 11, 2008Hydrogen may well be the new gasoline. But where's the nearest "gas" station where you can pull up and refuel your energy-efficient vehicle? Will hydrogen stations be strategically convenient—located on street corners and travel-stop locations around the globe?
What marketing development obstacles need to be overcome if hydrogen vehicles are ever to penetrate the transportation system and gain widespread acceptance?
According to an article by James Winebrake and Patrick Meyer in "Technovation: The International Journal of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management," there are a number of barriers to overcome before the hydrogen-fuel infrastructure becomes efficient, affordable and publicly accepted. However, both agree the 100-year reign of petroleum as the dominant transportation fuel is coming to an end—due to mounting prices, scarcity, and a need to reduce environmentally degrading emissions.
Winebrake, professor and chair of the Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Meyer, an RIT alumnus and a doctoral candidate at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, believe the use of hydrogen technology in transportation systems bears a direct relationship to the "chicken and egg" phenomenon.
"Consumers will not purchase hydrogen vehicles if there is no refueling infrastructure to service the vehicles; and the infrastructure development will not occur if there are no vehicles in operation to support it," Winebrake says.
In the study, the authors created a computer-based model, called H2VISION that simulated the dynamic relationships between vehicle purchases and refueling infrastructure. Using this computer model, they were able to determine how the cycle of vehicle purchases and infrastructure development operates and to propose recommendations to policymakers who aim incentives towards hydrogen transportation. Some of their recommendations include:
-- Initial investment in hydrogen refueling stations should support station "clusters" within urban regions so consumers can easily refuel vehicles with little additional convenience cost compared to gasoline.
-- Government policies should support both vehicle markets and refueling infrastructure simultaneously in order to achieve the greatest market penetration at the least cost.
-- Home refueling of hydrogen vehicles would go a long way to encourage market development, and appropriate government support of home refueling to technologies is needed.
Winebrake, who is also co-director of the RIT Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making, was cautiously optimistic about the prospects of a hydrogen based transportation sector developing in the coming decades.
"A lot of pieces of the puzzle are still missing," Winebrake notes. "But with appropriate economic incentives and technological advancement, a hydrogen transportation future may soon be in reach."
Source: Rochester Institute of Technology
Aug 24, 2009 |
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Who are you to leverage such costs on gas station operators who already have wafer thin margins?
Tank of water > Electrolysis (solar) > Fuel Cell > Tank of Water
This completely bypasses all of this refueling station non-sense.
Sure, your range might be more limited, but when you run out of fuel, instead of being completely stranded, you just have to leave the vehicle in the sun for a bit.
They already have "toy models" of this sort of thing... http://images.sky...962x.jpg
What am I missing?!
It works on those solar cars becuase they have virtually no weight or frame and they accelerate rather slowly.
Hydrogen makes a rather weak battery medium.
On the other hand, let's do some crude math.
kwh = $0.05
electrolyser needs 50kw to produce 1kg of H2
1kg H2 = energy content of 1 gallon of gasoline.
so essentially, beyond capital costs of the H2 fueling tanks and fillers (which is ~ 5x or more expensive then gasoline pumps): you are looking at $2.50 for the same content of energy that is in a gallon of gasoline.
Now change that to .10 / kwh for the more expensive areas and you have jumped the price to $5.00 / kg.
Next, add in the fact that if everyone uses electric or hydrogen cars (from elecrolysis) then you would practically double the electric grid requirements. Meaning you would atleast double the price of electricity again.
Again, just some crude math. Doesn't account for capital, maintenance, or any discount for using base energy (night-time) instead of prime.
Not withstanding the problems with producing hydrogen, why not use the same system as propane powered cars?
Here in Canada it's a rather simple changeover to get a car to run clean burning propane, and about half the filling stations have one propane pump. An attendant has to be trained to dispense propane, and it must be full service(no self serve).
All in all it works quite well IMHO.