Hydrogen: Waiting For The Breakthrough
Hydrogen: Waiting For The Breakthrough

Video: Hydrogen: Waiting For The Breakthrough

Video: Hydrogen: Waiting For The Breakthrough
Video: A Breakthrough in the hunt for Metallic Hydrogen? [Update 2020] 2024, March
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Many consider hydrogen to be the technology of the future. But so far the drive has been in the shadows. Unfortunately, nothing should change that quickly.

At the IAA, the focus was primarily on e-mobility. But contrary to what some would have expected ten years ago, fuel cell vehicles were numerically far inferior to battery-electric BEVs at the auto show. There is a reason for this: the hydrogen storage device, which has been celebrated euphorically for decades in the context of mobility, has become a little quieter in recent years.

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In the medium term, that much is certain, fuel cell technology will not see a triumphant advance in the passenger car sector. But the hydrogen plant that is delicately germinating in this country will continue to be looked after and cherished.

Mirai is expensive, but not upper class

At Toyota, for example, the Mirai has been available for sale since 2015, which, from the manufacturer's point of view, is technically mature, reliable, safe and in terms of costs even almost competitive with conventionally powered cars. Viewed objectively, Toyota is whitewashing the cost section, because the Mirai, which costs almost 80,000 euros, is by no means upper-class, despite its price and 4.89 meters in length.

Even with the fuel cell federal funding NIP of over 20,000 euros for commercial users, its price appears only moderately attractive. Especially since with a Mirai there is currently no potential to generate savings in terms of energy costs, because around one kilogram of hydrogen is required for 100 kilometers. At one of the 75 filling stations in Germany, it costs almost 10 euros per kilo. In any case, it is cheaper to drive a diesel or natural gas vehicle.

Production in small numbers

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But even if the costs are not deterring and the enthusiasm for the hydrogen car is great, as Mirai product manager Widger Falk knows from his few customers: The Mirai is only produced in very small numbers. In the past four years, under manufacturing conditions, only a little over 10,000 copies have been made in Japan, of which only a few hundred made it to Germany. Compared to the ever increasing numbers of battery electric vehicles (BEV) that are produced, this is negligible.

The Hydrogen Council once issued the vision of 1.2 million fuel cell cars worldwide for the year 2025.

As the head of Toyota Europe's Berlin representative office, Ferry Franz, said, the issue is being persistently promoted on several fronts, which will also help the spread of hydrogen cars. Changes in course in the corporate strategy, such as the fuel cell pioneer Daimler made a few years ago by renouncing mass production, have thwarted the initially hoped for spread of the technology.

H2 Mobility is picking up speed

After all, the Hydrogen Council has picked up speed again, as two automakers, Hyundai and Great Wall, have joined the interest group in the past two years. In addition, BMW surprisingly announced at the IAA that it would initially produce a fuel cell model in 2022 and in large series from 2025. At Toyota, too, the next steps towards large-scale production are firmly in view.

According to Franz Ferry, the second Mirai generation is due to start in 2020, and the production capacities of the hydrogen stacks will also increase tenfold by this time. The associated economies of scale suggest that the price will fall.

The Japanese are not even asking themselves whether BEVs or fuel cell cars will win the race. For them there will be a juxtaposition of partially and fully electrified cars in the future. Toyota sees the application area of fully electric vehicles with battery storage primarily in urban use and for short distances.

No range problem

Fuel cell cars can elegantly circumvent the range problems of BEVs, which is why they are suitable as long-distance electricity. In this way, high ranges can be achieved with Mirai or the Hyundai Nexo, which is also available, without expensive and heavy batteries.

In addition, the fuel cell has a long range even when it is cold and allows quick refueling without aging the energy storage device exponentially, provided that the somewhat difficult columns work properly, which is not always the case when it is extremely hot and cold. Precisely in these points, which are so important for everyday use, a BEV is clearly at a disadvantage. Pure battery solutions are also clearly at a disadvantage due to the absurd sizes for trucks, in which Toyota sees particularly great potential for fuel cell technology.

But not only when it comes to the range of vehicles is a long way off. Carbon-neutral hydrogen is also waiting to be used more widely. The Mainz energy park, initially built by Linde and Siemens as a research facility for 17 million euros, is actually designed to generate regenerative hydrogen. Among other things, four wind turbines were set up right next to the system, which in theory should supply the electricity for the energy-intensive electrolysis process. With the help of electricity, water is split into its components hydrogen and oxygen. As Linde's operations engineer Martin Neuberger admits, electricity from the grid that is as cheap as possible is used for this “power-to-gas” process for cost reasons.

High energy consumption in production

The wind turbines, however, feed their electricity into the grid, as this is paid for at a particularly high rate thanks to the EEG law. The electricity used in practice for electrolysis is therefore usually not climate-neutral. High efficiency losses of at least 30 percent and the transport of hydrogen are also detrimental to a positive energy balance. Around 200 tons can be extracted here annually, which would be enough to supply around 2,000 Toyota Mirai with energy for 10,000 kilometers each year.

However, the gas has to be delivered to filling stations by truck. But a 20-ton truck can only hold 350 kilograms of hydrogen in its tank. Driven by diesel engines, these heavyweights are anything but climate-neutral. In addition, the Mainz energy park cannot be operated economically under free competitive conditions. Neuberger does not want to name a realistic price for the kilowatt-hour of hydrogen from the facility, which is operated without personnel, but it becomes clear that this cannot be competitive, which is mainly due to the high investments. However, the system shows that the technology works and is manageable. Siemens wants to optimize the PEM electrolysis process used there for marketing in the future.

Many more question marks

Basically, according to Neuberger, smarter and significantly cheaper systems can be implemented. One day, even mini-PEM systems operated with solar power at filling stations could generate climate-neutral hydrogen, which can be refueled directly at the production site without any transport effort. When Neuberger talks about the technically feasible, he often uses the subjunctive, because such systems are being considered, but they will not be available soon. But what would be the best way to achieve a climate-neutral hydrogen supply? “Nobody has the concept for the future,” says the engineer, who, in addition to a lot of euphoria about the subject of hydrogen, also has a little skepticism.

The spread of hydrogen technologies that are already available is also slow, as can be seen when visiting the Radisson Blu Hotel in Frankfurt. In 2018, the energy supplier EON put a 1.4 MW fuel cell into operation as a block-type thermal power station, which has advantages in terms of the ecological balance, although the hydrogen for generating electricity is by no means climate-neutral.

High grants

Mercedes GLC F-Cell. Photo: Daimler
Mercedes GLC F-Cell. Photo: Daimler

According to hotel boss Michael Götz, the huge system for the Radisson Blu pays off, which is, however, also owed to a subsidy from the National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology NOW in the amount of 800,000 euros as well as a low natural gas price.

However, as Tilman Wilhelm von NOW admits, the funding of another such facility is currently not in sight, which probably has to do with the constantly changing political conditions in Berlin. In his opinion, a similar priority problem can also be seen in the promotion of e-mobility, in which battery-electric mobility has been subsidized regionally as well as at federal level in recent years, which in turn has slowed down hydrogen initiatives. “It's all complicated,” is Wilhelm's summary of the question of what is funded and why.

And so it is a mixture of changing corporate strategies, a non-coherent funding policy and many chicken and egg problems that have prevented hydrogen technology from triumphing in mobility so far. (SPX)

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