Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda remain the only major manufacturers to actually release HFCVs though. And they aren't exactly selling brilliantly; as of the end of 2017, cumulative HFCVs sales hit 6,500 worldwide. At the same point, BEV sales were at 1.9 million.
What about the power demands of refining hydrogen? How many power stations will we need for that? Who is going to pay for it?
In a perfectly efficient system, it takes 32kWh of electricity to produce 1kg of hydrogen from water. That 1kg is enough for 100km of propulsion. So 3km per kWh. Convert to miles, and that's roughly 2 miles per kWh. An EV will typically get at least 3 miles per kWh, including transmission losses. So if we had perfectly efficient electrolysis, the electricity demands of running transport on hydrogen would be 50% higher than BEV. But we don't have perfectly efficient electrolysis. The best I've seen on a research paper is around 45kWh per kg.
As for generating electricity, National Grid have stated in the past that they have no immediate concerns about being able to power EVs. Their focus is currently on developing a "smart grid" to smooth out demand, rather than just building more and more capacity to cater for the few "peak demand" hours per year.
Could you explain the process of "converting" a petrol station to hydrogen? I'm assuming it involves ripping out the existing refuelling equipment and installing new equipment, meaning the infrastructure doesn't "already exist" at all. Only the sites do.
You've also missed the infrastructure needed to produce the hydrogen fuel. Or does that "already exist" as well? I guess oil refineries can be knocked down and replaced with hydrogen production facilities?
Fuel cost, according to an Engadget article from last year, is around $12 for 100km worth of fuel, subsidised. So roughly £10 for 100km, or £16 per 100 miles. That's 25% more than a typical petrol car despite the subsidy and without adding tax, the cost of infrastructure, or profit. Given the amount of tax on petrol, it seems like some serious economies of scale (or a major breakthrough) are needed to get the cost of hydrogen anywhere close to reasonable.
You had the same situation with EV’s initially in that only a few companies were developing electric cars even then many of them were hybrids. So that’s not really that important as more will with time but yes currently electric cars are more popular and will continue to grow.
The power demands are potentially a little different as there will be a known demand to produce x amount of kg’s rather than sporadic peaks when many are charging at any one time (let’s assume people will plug in when they get home from work or maybe before bed).
With Hydrogen production facilities will be built and within that site it’s perfectly feasible to include solar and or wind generation to subsidise the known demand. Also it’s perfect to have such facilities in places like an arid desert, where sun is in abundance and the land is not used for anything else.
Yes ev’s are more efficient at using electric to power the vehicle but Hydrogen is more flexible If the infrastucture is in place to allow refuelling in a similar manor to what we have always had with petrol and diesel.
I’m sure they intend to build a smart grid but realistically speaking if ev’s Have a 75-100kw battery pack that’ll need charging however often x by however many 1000’s or millions worldwide that be produced and brought by motorists, that’s a lot of energy needed to keep these cars topped up. I use somewhere near that much in my home per week and I’m don’t use as much as the average. You going to essentially double the current demand on the grid.
The price of Hydrogen is not a big issue either as the cost will come down with demand just like in any other industry, let’s face it we’re not going to run out of hydrogen.
Can’t say I would know what’s required to convert a petrol station to hydrogen but I’d imagine it’s not that different to lpg. So at a guess you’d need a tank, some pipe work and the pumps.
Ok wrong word I’ll replace infrastructure for sites that can and will be converted when the demand calls for it. It won’t be tomorrow but it will as it starts to catch up and the need to replace petrol increases.
The main reason why I think it will catch up ev’s If not surpass is because the petrol/diesel industry is worth many, many billions to companies like BP, She’ll ect. As revenue from oil begins to decline as less and less internal combustible cars are sold, (eventually none will be produce) they’ll want to keep the money coming in as too will governments who are used to recieving fuel duty. Hydrogen is potentially a perfect replacement as they can produce and supply in a similar fashion as they have always done with oil, government will still be able to tax it and everyone will be happy. It’s better for the environment, it’s close to petrol so the end user who habitually hates change can carry on as before, and more importantly people can still get rich through the control, production and supply of an essential commodity.
That my take on it.
