When most people think about alternative fuels in the transportation sector, they think electric vehicles (EVs): Teslas, Mustang Mach-E’s, F-150 Lightnings, and other zero-to-60 stunners. EVs have certainly jumped to the fore among low-carbon options, but other possibilities may prove to be even better. One is hydrogen-fueled vehicles, which while posing a number of economic and logistical challenges, could eliminate the range anxiety associated with EVs — assuming that a robust, nationwide network of hydrogen fueling stations can be developed. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss hydrogen’s potential as a transportation fuel, including its infrastructure-related challenges and how it qualifies for credits under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
Over the past year, we’ve blogged extensively about low-carbon transportation fuel options as part of our “Come Clean” series. In Part 1, we took a big-picture look at how low-carbon fuel policies are changing the transportation sector. Then, in Part 2, we looked at California’s LCFS and why it matters. In Part 3, we looked at ethanol’s ability to cut gasoline’s carbon intensity, or CI. Part 4 examined whether biodiesel is a viable low-carbon fuel. Part 5 put the focus on renewable diesel’s sudden popularity. And in Part 6 we looked at sustainable aviation fuel’s ascending status. Today, we turn our attention to hydrogen, which has emerged as perhaps the highest-profile alternative to conventional, hydrocarbon-based fuels.
The Future of Fuels bi-annual report by RBN's Refined Fuels Analytics provides an in-depth analysis of the U.S. and global refinery industries, focusing on crude oil and fuel market dynamics, supply and demand, alternative fuels, refinery capacities, and price forecasts to help stakeholders navigate the evolving energy landscape.
When you come down to it, there are two categories of energy demand: stationary sources and mobile ones. Stationary energy sources provide electricity and heat for homes, businesses, and industries while mobile sources are vehicles, ships, and aircraft that carry their fuel onboard. In both cases, the ideal energy is safe, clean, affordable, and easily supplied and stored. Transportation fuels have additional requirements because, as we said, the fuel must be carried within the vehicle, requiring the expenditure of energy just to move around the onboard weight of the fuel.
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About the song
"Come Clean" was written by Kara DioGuardi and John Shanks and in January 2004 was the second single released from Hilary Duff’s second studio album, Metamorphosis. Produced by John Shanks, the song peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in the U.S., but broke into the Top 20 in the UK and Australia.
The song was used in the theatrical trailer for the 2004 film A Cinderella Story, which stars Duff. It also was used as the theme song for the MTV reality television shows Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County. A remix of “Come Clean” was included in Duff’s 2005 compilation album, Most Wanted, and another remix appeared in the Best of Hilary Duff LP in 2008.
Hilary Duff is an American actress, businesswoman, singer-songwriter, producer, and writer. She began her acting career at a young age, starring in the TV series Lizzie McGuire in 2001-04, followed by leading roles in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and several other films.
Comments
I like the chart of energy density by weight and volume, and it makes a strong point about hydrogen's virtues as an energy carrier.
But it is a bit disingenuous hydrogen to compare hydrogen as a transport fuel with batteries and other fuels in this way.
Hydrogen as a vehicle fuel requires a large and heavy tank to contain it. The 10,000 psi tanks in cars weigh far more than the hydrogen they contain. Toyota Mirai tanks, for example weigh 87.5kg and can contain 5kg of H2. So rather than packing 140 MJ per kg (as shown), H2 at 700 bar is only about 7.5 MJ per kg including the tank weight. The tanks are also quite bulky, so the energy per unit volume would also be a bit worse.
Batteries are their own tanks, and need no additional weight. Gasoline tanks weigh far less than the gasoline they contain, and add almost no additional volume, so all the liquid fuel chart points would barely budge if the full containment weight was considered. But H2 would move right over into the bottom left corner, not very far from batteries.
Then there's the fact that a battery can power a car with about 90% efficiency, while for H2 it is only about 60%, and for gasoline 30%. So on the basis of <em>usable</em> energy density, the H2 point would move down by one-third, and liquid fuels by two-thirds. Then, the H2 car also needs the addtional weight and volume of a fuel cell, plus a modest battery, which the BEV does not.
So all in all, in practical terms, H2's advantage in energy density over batteries is far less than this chart would suggest. In fact, it may not have any energy density advantage at all. This is borne out by the fact that existing H2 cars like Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo are both heavier and offer less passenger and luggage room than a BEV like Tesla Model 3.
Refuelling a H2 car should, however be faster, and for some vehicle use cases, that would be a big advantage.