This article is written by a man who leaded a team that developed the first hydrogen-fueled Prius some years ago.
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I had the honor of leading the team that developed the first hydrogen-fueled Prius. The South Coast Air Quality District took delivery of these cars to conduct field testing. Their real-world experience on city streets demonstrated that hydrogen-fueled cars could deliver on performance with zero tailpipe emissions.
What stopped this technology’s commercialization was the challenge of sourcing hydrogen in quantity, at competitive prices, with a lower-than-gasoline emissions footprint. Here’s what my analysis found on sourcing hydrogen
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Reformatting natural gas. This is the commercial path most likely to deliver hydrogen today. The question is: Why take natural gas and refine it further to source hydrogen? Doing so adds costs and emissions. Why not just burn the natural gas because it has a higher energy content than hydrogen?
Landfill methane.
Landfills create methane (natural gas). This more sustainable source of methane can then be reformatted to create hydrogen. But the question is whether this use of landfill methane is its best and highest-value use. The alternative is to use landfill methane to generate electricity, bypassing the hydrogen production and reformatting process.
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Solar electrolysis. This is the Holy Grail that uses solar energy to split water modules to create hydrogen. It is a renewable technology path for sustained production of hydrogen with zero emissions. But existing technology is horribly inefficient. It takes about 10 units of solar energy to produce one unit of hydrogen energy.
Nuclear power. Nuclear power plants can produce huge quantities of hydrogen at competitive marginal costs. Rather than generating electricity, these power plants could use their energy to create hydrogen by splitting water modules. While the marginal costs appears competitive, there are significant challenges tied to nuclear’s huge capital cost requirements plus the cost of long-term safe disposal of nuclear waste that has a 10,000-year half life.
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I truly wished the Miria could be a commercial success. It is fun to drive. It provides a 300-mile range between refillings.
But for the Mirai to succeed, the challenge of fuel supply has to be figured out. The closest hydrogen refueling station to my Oceanside California home is a 20- to 30-minute drive. Who wants to commute to fill up?
The bottom line is that the Mirai is a great piece of technology seeking a fuel solution. For it to be a disruptive technology, there needs to be an affordable, clean and convenient supply of hydrogen. Achieving that milestone would truly be disruptive.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/07/hydrogen-fueled-toyota-mirai-disruptive-technology/
According to a map that you can find retail hydrogen stations in California, if you live in San Diego you need to drive 80 miles to San Juan Capistrano to fill up. After 160 miles round trip you will be able to drive the Mirai for about 120-130 miles then another 160 miles round trip. Usable range of 120-130 miles is because you want some reserve, 20-30 miles reserve is very minimum. Just likes most people fill up their gas tanks before the low fuel warning, the low fuel warning in most cars still have about 1.5-2.0 gallons in the tank for driving another 30-40 miles before actual empty.
http://cafcp.org/index.php?q=stationmap
If you're outside California then forget the whole FCV, there aren't any hydrogen station in most states, I think there are few stations in DC.
Hydrogen stations are costly to build, about $2M. Many stations were built with state of California money.
Quote:
I had the honor of leading the team that developed the first hydrogen-fueled Prius. The South Coast Air Quality District took delivery of these cars to conduct field testing. Their real-world experience on city streets demonstrated that hydrogen-fueled cars could deliver on performance with zero tailpipe emissions.
What stopped this technology’s commercialization was the challenge of sourcing hydrogen in quantity, at competitive prices, with a lower-than-gasoline emissions footprint. Here’s what my analysis found on sourcing hydrogen
Quote:
Reformatting natural gas. This is the commercial path most likely to deliver hydrogen today. The question is: Why take natural gas and refine it further to source hydrogen? Doing so adds costs and emissions. Why not just burn the natural gas because it has a higher energy content than hydrogen?
Landfill methane.
Landfills create methane (natural gas). This more sustainable source of methane can then be reformatted to create hydrogen. But the question is whether this use of landfill methane is its best and highest-value use. The alternative is to use landfill methane to generate electricity, bypassing the hydrogen production and reformatting process.
Quote:
Solar electrolysis. This is the Holy Grail that uses solar energy to split water modules to create hydrogen. It is a renewable technology path for sustained production of hydrogen with zero emissions. But existing technology is horribly inefficient. It takes about 10 units of solar energy to produce one unit of hydrogen energy.
Nuclear power. Nuclear power plants can produce huge quantities of hydrogen at competitive marginal costs. Rather than generating electricity, these power plants could use their energy to create hydrogen by splitting water modules. While the marginal costs appears competitive, there are significant challenges tied to nuclear’s huge capital cost requirements plus the cost of long-term safe disposal of nuclear waste that has a 10,000-year half life.
Quote:
I truly wished the Miria could be a commercial success. It is fun to drive. It provides a 300-mile range between refillings.
But for the Mirai to succeed, the challenge of fuel supply has to be figured out. The closest hydrogen refueling station to my Oceanside California home is a 20- to 30-minute drive. Who wants to commute to fill up?
The bottom line is that the Mirai is a great piece of technology seeking a fuel solution. For it to be a disruptive technology, there needs to be an affordable, clean and convenient supply of hydrogen. Achieving that milestone would truly be disruptive.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/07/hydrogen-fueled-toyota-mirai-disruptive-technology/
According to a map that you can find retail hydrogen stations in California, if you live in San Diego you need to drive 80 miles to San Juan Capistrano to fill up. After 160 miles round trip you will be able to drive the Mirai for about 120-130 miles then another 160 miles round trip. Usable range of 120-130 miles is because you want some reserve, 20-30 miles reserve is very minimum. Just likes most people fill up their gas tanks before the low fuel warning, the low fuel warning in most cars still have about 1.5-2.0 gallons in the tank for driving another 30-40 miles before actual empty.
http://cafcp.org/index.php?q=stationmap
If you're outside California then forget the whole FCV, there aren't any hydrogen station in most states, I think there are few stations in DC.
Hydrogen stations are costly to build, about $2M. Many stations were built with state of California money.
Air Liquide Industrial US LP will receive $2,125,000 to construct a 100% renewable hydrogen refueling station in Palo Alto.
FirstElement Fuel, Inc. will receive $2,902,000 to construct two 100 percent renewable refueling stations in Los Angeles, and $24,667,000 for 17 stations in Campbell, Coalinga, Costa Mesa, Hayward, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, La Canada Flintridge, Long Beach, Mill Valley, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Saratoga, South Pasadena, South San Francisco, Redwood City and Truckee.
HyGen Industries, LLC will receive $5,306,814 to construct three 100 percent renewable hydrogen refueling stations in Orange, Pacific Palisades and Rohnert Park.
Institute of Gas Technology will receive $999,677 for a mobile refueling unit.
ITM Power, Inc. will receive $2,125,000 to construct a station in Riverside.
Linde LLC will receive $4,250,000 to construct stations in Oakland and San Ramon.
Hydrogen Technology & Energy Corporation (HTEC) will receive $2,125,000 to construct a station in Woodside.
Ontario CNG Station Inc. will receive $2,125,000 to construct a station in Ontario.