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Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

Posted on by dishanth
Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

The automotive industry is rapidly transitioning to alternative energy sources for fuel vehicles, considering the greenhouse gasses (GHGs) emitted every mile driven. Battery-electric cars are on the rise, but are better alternatives on the horizon?

Hydrogen emerged as a viable replacement for fossil fuels and could be the next big thing in the automotive industry. The rise of hydrogen fuel cells is coming sooner than you may think, so here’s what you need to know about these vehicles.

 

Rapid Market Growth

The future of hydrogen power is bright, as investors think it has massive potential for the automotive industry. Experts say the global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market will have a compound annual growth rate of 43% until 2032, culminating in a $57.9 billion value. Automakers understand the severity of today’s climate crisis and use any means necessary to advance their sustainability goals.

 

Harnessing Hydrogen

Hydrogen is unstable, as it reacts with other atoms to form compounds. So, how can you harness this chemical element to be safe for your vehicle? Scientists typically use these methods for hydrogen fuel production:

  • Thermal: The Department of Energy (DoE) says about 95% of today’s hydrogen comes from repurposed natural gas. Scientists combine steam and hydrocarbon fuels to produce hydrogen fuel, requiring high temperatures and attention to detail.
  • Solar: Using renewable energy to produce clean fuel is smart, so experts have used solar power for hydrogen production. For instance, they can harness hydrogen fuel using bacteria and its natural photosynthetic activity.
  • Biology: Bacteria are also helpful for hydrogen fuel production through biological reactions. You can use microbes to break down biomass and wastewater, and these tiny organisms aren’t energy-intensive, as they harness sunlight for power.

 

Refueling Stations

Hydrogen fuel is already available if you live on the West Coast, as most of the existing stations are in California — primarily in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. You can also enjoy this alternative energy source in the Pacific Ocean at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. As hydrogen fuel grows in demand, you’ll see more opportunities to fill up with it.

The DoE says the United States has 59 retail hydrogen-fueling stations, but more projects are on the way. Fleet companies may have private areas for fueling their vehicles, especially as long-haul trucks convert to hydrogen fuel.

 

Can Semi-Trucks Use Hydrogen Fuel?

Battery-electric motors are a concern for larger vehicles like light-duty and long-haul trucks. These machines must be powerful enough to propel heavy machines for long distances, but their weight drains energy quickly. Will hydrogen fuel be a solution? The logistics industry has focused on this alternative fuel source for greener highways.

For instance, in 2025, Kenworth will begin full-scale production of Class 8 T680 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in collaboration with Toyota. The heavy-duty truck manufacturer will deliver its first hydrogen-powered vehicles this year and then expand production.

While the fuel source changes, the typical qualities in hydrogen-powered trucks do not. This Kenworth Class 8 T680 truck has a max payload of 82,000 pounds, demonstrating its ability to carry a significant amount of goods.

The truck uses Toyota’s 310kW Dual Motor Assembly, as the Japanese automaker has prioritized hydrogen fuel research in the last decade. It recently released the second-generation Mirai, which mixes hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity.

States like California have imposed strict requirements for long-haul trucks and other vehicles, so hydrogen-powered trucks could be the answer for sustainability and dependable transportation. Kenworth tested hydrogen fuel cell technology at the Port of Los Angeles in 2022 and used its success to build the Class 8 T680 semi-truck. Continued success will likely mean further North American expansion.

 

Powering Outside the Highways

Hydrogen has become a viable option for passenger cars and even long-haul trucks in its early stages. However, highway vehicles are not the only method of transportation using hydrogen power. Last year, North America debuted its first hydrogen train in Quebec, Canada. This machine uses about 50 kg of hydrogen daily and eliminates dependence upon fossil fuels for these trips.

Hydro-Quebec provides energy for the train, enabling it to travel about 90 km between Quebec City and Baie-Saint-Paul. Emissions are less of a worry for the train, as you only see water vapor emerging from its pipes.

 

What Are the Benefits of Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles?

Hydrogen-powered vehicles are likely the future, as automakers heavily invest in the technologies required for these machines. Driving a hydrogen-powered car delivers these four benefits.

1. Reducing Emissions

Auto manufacturers like Toyota are pushing hydrogen fuel technology because of its eco-friendliness. The only emissions are water vapor and heat, thus making them better for the environment. Turning hydrogen fuel cells mainstream would reduce the amount of GHGs emitted daily, which is crucial to combating climate change.

The transition to hydrogen fuel cells would significantly boost the logistics industry, considering how many long-haul trucks hit the road daily. Research shows medium and heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. emit over 400 million metric tons of GHGs. Converting trucks worldwide would help the surrounding environment and improve health for each road traveled.

2. Easy Transition

While converting existing trucks to hydrogen fuel cells takes time, the transition might be easier than you think. Logistics companies can keep their current gas transport and storage mechanisms, repurposing them for hydrogen fuel.

Additionally, truck owners wouldn’t have to jump through hoops to let their vehicles take hydrogen power. Retrofitting combustion engines for hydrogen power is more straightforward than with electric motors, especially with heavy trucks.

3. Beating Battery-Powered Vehicles

Battery-electric trucks are best for short drives due to their limited range. However, logistics companies need their vehicles to travel hundreds of miles each trip to keep deliveries on time. Hydrogen-powered trucks allow fleet owners to combine sustainability and efficient travel due to their range.

For instance, the Kenworth T680 hydrogen fuel-powered truck ranges up to 450 miles, depending on the driving conditions. Regardless, it’s more than you’d get from an electric truck. In fact, the Kenworth machine boasts one of the highest ranges for any semi-truck using alternative energy sources.

4. Rapid Refueling

Another significant advantage of hydrogen trucks over battery-electric vehicles is the quick refueling. Fully electric trucks will need to wait for a few hours before they can head back on the road, causing trips to be longer than scheduled. However, hydrogen machines only require a few minutes to fill up, greatly boosting logistics companies. The Kenworth hydrogen fuel cell vehicle lets fleet owners increase uptime and reduce lead times.

Foreshadowing a Bright Future

The automotive industry is pushing for fossil fuel alternatives to help the planet’s transportation sector. While battery-electric technology has existed for over a decade, hydrogen fuel cells are another way for automakers to produce cleaner vehicles.

The future of hydrogen vehicles is bright as researchers continue to improve the technology and bring it into the mainstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source  Happy Eco News

Irizar’s ieTram EV to be installed along London bus route

Posted on by dishanth
Irizar’s ieTram EV to be installed along London bus route

The streets of the UK capital will soon be traversed by the bus of the future after Transport for London (TfL) announced the rollout of 20 new electric buses which are expected to be in place along the 358 route (Crystal Palace to Orpington) by 2023.

The vehicles – known as the ieTram – were purchased by Go Ahead, the city’s largest bus operator, from e-mobility manufacturer Irizar. As part of the deal, the Spanish company will also be installing the electric charging infrastructure.

 

 

The details of the new EV public transport technology

This technology uses an inverted pantograph system that connects to the roof of the bus. With this in place, the new vehicles will be capable of recharging in under ten minutes upon the completion of a route.

According to a release from Irizar: “The buses will be powered by state-of-the-art batteries… and will be charged between trips using two fast charging inverted pantograph systems to be installed at Crystal Palace and Orpington Bus Stations, allowing the buses to be charged in less than five minutes and enabling them to perform the required service effortlessly.”

Thus far, pantograph technology has only been installed on one other bus route in the city (the 132, from North Greenwich to Bexleyheath).

The speed at which it allows recharging is a marked improvement on what TfL’s fleet can typically do, as the vast majority of London’s 850 electric buses must charge overnight in a garage.

For Irizar, the 12-metre-long buses also mark the company’s first foray into right-hand-side driving.

London has been working hard to make its transportation networks more sustainable. As a part of its Bus Action Plan, this move marks the latest in TfL’s efforts to have a zero-emission bus fleet by 2034. There is a hope, too, that with additional funding, this target can be brought forward to 2030.

 

 

Source Sustainability

Electric vehicle and ‘compact’ city combo could reach emissions targets

Posted on by dishanth
Electric vehicle and ‘compact’ city combo could reach emissions targets

Getting more people into electric vehicles needs to happen alongside a shift to more “compact” cities where fewer car journeys are needed if governments want to stave off the most dire effects of global warming, researchers said on Thursday.

Curbing urban transport emissions is a narrow but critical piece in the broader fight against climate change, as cities from Paris to Jakarta re-orient their streets to promote public transit use and bicycle and walking paths.

“If politicians think electrification is going to save the day… and everybody’s going to go out and buy an electric vehicle, it’s just not going to work,” said Heather Thompson, CEO of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

The research looked at four scenarios for transport: “business as usual,” massive electrification of public and private vehicles by 2050, a major shift in cities to non-car transport, and a “high EV + shift” combination.

The “EV + shift” scenario was the only one whose estimated 2020-2050 emissions were in line with targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, which aims to limit global temperature rise to “well under” 2 degrees Celsius.

The key is minimizing the overall number of vehicles on the road and electrifying the rest, said Thompson, whose nonprofit group developed and released the research in concert with the University of California, Davis.

 

Rising emissions

Urban passenger transport represents about 10 per cent of the world’s climate-changing emissions — but those emissions have been increasing steadily as private vehicles become easier to acquire in emerging economies, the study found.

Researchers acknowledged that putting into place a large-scale “EV + shift” combination would require a “vast global effort,” likening it to the construction of the US interstate highway system in the 1950s.

But the study catalogued examples of cities promoting effective land use and public transporation options that others could emulate.

Mexico City, for instance, features both a viable public bikeshare system and policies that disincentivize or reduce parking availability.

In the US Pacific Northwest, Portland has pushed zoning laws encouraging high-density development — which makes walking to services easier — and Seattle has worked to ensure residents have close access to high-frequency bus routes.

The study pointed out that Paris decreased car travel by almost 50 per cent in 30 years by promoting other options, while Jakarta in 2004 opened a mass transit system that drew nearly a million daily riders pre-pandemic.

“We have the solutions. We have the technology. We know which ones are more cost-effective. It’s really about political will,” Thompson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

More immediate, tangible steps to promote clean transport – like creating protected bike lanes and sidewalks and boosting rapid transit – would serve people where they already live, she noted.

“These are things that cities can do. It’s not about people moving — it’s about bringing those better transportation options to people wherever they live,” she said.

 

Roadblocks

Still, even gradual changes to city design and zoning laws can generate massive political blowback — as with hastily installed road barriers designed to make space for walking and cycling in London during an early pandemic lockdown.

A combination of inertia and entrenchment of old designs and thinking are major obstacles, said Brendan Shane, climate director at The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit group.

“The idea that the road is the principal design feature for a new area… (and that) the car comes first and the people come second still tends to be dominant,” he said.

In the United States and elsewhere, competing interests of developers, residents, and local businesses can make it nearly impossible to satisfy everyone.

Jennifer Roberts, the former mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, recalled a recent conversation with small business owners in a “densifying” neighborhood.

“It was so interesting because half the business owners were like ‘We don’t have enough parking’ and ‘Our customers can’t get there,’” she said.

“And the other (half) were like, ‘We need less parking — our customers walk and bike to where we are. We want more space for our restaurant — less space for the cars.’”

By 2050, a shift to more compact cities could cut direct public and private costs of urban passenger transport by $5 trillion per year compared to the “business as usual” and high-electrification-only options, the ITDP report found.

Ballot initiatives in the United States suggest people are capable of embracing such fundamental changes if they see tangible benefits, said Linda Hwang, director of strategy and innovation at The Trust for Public Land.

“We see time and time again people making the choice to tax (themselves) if it means they’re going to get more parks, more trails, more public lands,” she said.

“Nobody likes the word tax and nobody likes a carbon tax, but if you call it a park then they (say), ‘Yeah, I’ll pay for that.’”

This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate.

 

 

Source Eco Business