Fuel Cells for Faster Fuelling and Falling Emissions
Fuel Cells for Faster Fuelling and Falling Emissions – IDTechEx Covers FCEVs
Fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) offer a new opportunity for the transport sector to significantly reduce emissions, with only water vapor being produced as a result of their operation. IDTechEx's report, “Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2025-2045: Markets, Technologies, Forecasts“, explores the technology behind fuel-cell vehicles and how they operate, as well as the main drivers of their adoption, including environmental benefits, energy density, and smaller battery requirements.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Fuel-cell vehicles on the road today currently all use proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), which see hydrogen being pumped into a gas diffusion on the anode side, and oxygen on the cathode side.
The use of platinum catalysts helps to strip hydrogen of its electrons in order to create protons, which can then travel through the proton exchange membrane. There, they can recombine with oxygen to make water and energy. IDTechEx outlines the different materials required for PEMFCs, including platinum, graphite, or metal for the bipolar plates, and Nafion for the proton exchange membrane.
Incentives for the development of fuel cell vehicles
Environmental:
The environmental benefits of running FCEVs compared to combustion engine vehicles are one of the main drivers for fuel-cell technology. They can provide a zero-emission solution for transportation, including cars, buses, trucks, and light commercial vehicles (LCVs), while the absence of harmful emissions can enable local air quality improvement and help OEMs meet their emission reduction targets.
The sourcing of hydrogen alongside the grid mix, however, will affect the overall emissions in running these vehicles, though with water vapour being the only emission released on the road, FCEVs are still significantly better for the environment than combustion engines.
Quieter vehicle operation is another positive environmental impact, with FCEVs running almost as quietly as BEVs, without the notorious whirring of combustion engines.
Energy density:
Hydrogen's density can allow for greater energy density than is achievable than with battery electric vehicles (BEVs). FCEVs can boast a similar range to current internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, just without the tax of harmful emissions.
Operational flexibility can therefore be achieved for commercial vehicles as a result, especially considering the reduced weight of FCEVs compared with BEVs, without the load of a heavy battery onboard. Li-ion batteries will still be required in FCEVs to provide extra power to the motor and to store energy, but due to these batteries being much smaller than in BEVs, their production will have a lesser impact on the environment.
Charging and infrastructure:
FCEVs can be refuelled at hydrogen refuelling stations in as little as 5 minutes. Similar to the convenience of filling up an ICE car, there is no waiting around for large batteries to recharge like with BEVs. As a result, the infrastructure required for hydrogen refuelling stations is not expected to match the high-power demand of BEV charging stations and could subsequently incur a smaller carbon footprint and cause less strain on the grid. IDTechEx reports that one hydrogen refuelling station could refuel many more vehicles at a faster rate compared with conductive charging.
Challenges for FCEVs
Despite the many benefits of FCEVs, using hydrogen as a fuel comes with challenges, including being considered an inefficient use of renewable electricity.
FCEVs' lack of exposure to volatile petrol prices does not mean they are cheap, however, as hydrogen is still costly to produce. Green hydrogen in particular, the kind needed to make the FCEVs completely emission-free, is even more expensive and requires more resources to acquire.
The presence of hydrogen infrastructure is also currently limited; the increasing of which will require a lot of investment in the short to medium term if FCEVs are to become more widely deployed. With governmental support for fuel-cell vehicle technology also being sparse, IDTechEx suggests that greater fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emission penalties could help to drive more investment in green technologies such as FCEVs.
The maturity of FCEV components, and therefore their reliability and performance, could also provide challenges, as they are not yet widespread, and data is somewhat limited. As a result, there is limited standardization of refuelling protocols and storage pressures.
BEVs are continuing to see much greater interest currently, though in Japan and Korea, there has been notable funding for hydrogen infrastructure, alongside subsidies for FCEVs, to help drive uptake. South Korea has also provided subsidies for FCEVs in recent years, much greater than those offered for BEVs.
To find out more about IDTechEx's “Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2025-2045: Markets, Technologies, Forecasts” report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/FCEVs.
For the full portfolio of electric vehicles market research available from IDTechEx, please see www.IDTechEx.com/Research/EV.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Fuel-cell vehicles on the road today currently all use proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), which see hydrogen being pumped into a gas diffusion on the anode side, and oxygen on the cathode side.
The use of platinum catalysts helps to strip hydrogen of its electrons in order to create protons, which can then travel through the proton exchange membrane. There, they can recombine with oxygen to make water and energy. IDTechEx outlines the different materials required for PEMFCs, including platinum, graphite, or metal for the bipolar plates, and Nafion for the proton exchange membrane.
Incentives for the development of fuel cell vehicles
Environmental:
The environmental benefits of running FCEVs compared to combustion engine vehicles are one of the main drivers for fuel-cell technology. They can provide a zero-emission solution for transportation, including cars, buses, trucks, and light commercial vehicles (LCVs), while the absence of harmful emissions can enable local air quality improvement and help OEMs meet their emission reduction targets.
The sourcing of hydrogen alongside the grid mix, however, will affect the overall emissions in running these vehicles, though with water vapour being the only emission released on the road, FCEVs are still significantly better for the environment than combustion engines.
Quieter vehicle operation is another positive environmental impact, with FCEVs running almost as quietly as BEVs, without the notorious whirring of combustion engines.
Energy density:
Hydrogen's density can allow for greater energy density than is achievable than with battery electric vehicles (BEVs). FCEVs can boast a similar range to current internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, just without the tax of harmful emissions.
Operational flexibility can therefore be achieved for commercial vehicles as a result, especially considering the reduced weight of FCEVs compared with BEVs, without the load of a heavy battery onboard. Li-ion batteries will still be required in FCEVs to provide extra power to the motor and to store energy, but due to these batteries being much smaller than in BEVs, their production will have a lesser impact on the environment.
Charging and infrastructure:
FCEVs can be refuelled at hydrogen refuelling stations in as little as 5 minutes. Similar to the convenience of filling up an ICE car, there is no waiting around for large batteries to recharge like with BEVs. As a result, the infrastructure required for hydrogen refuelling stations is not expected to match the high-power demand of BEV charging stations and could subsequently incur a smaller carbon footprint and cause less strain on the grid. IDTechEx reports that one hydrogen refuelling station could refuel many more vehicles at a faster rate compared with conductive charging.
Challenges for FCEVs
Despite the many benefits of FCEVs, using hydrogen as a fuel comes with challenges, including being considered an inefficient use of renewable electricity.
FCEVs' lack of exposure to volatile petrol prices does not mean they are cheap, however, as hydrogen is still costly to produce. Green hydrogen in particular, the kind needed to make the FCEVs completely emission-free, is even more expensive and requires more resources to acquire.
The presence of hydrogen infrastructure is also currently limited; the increasing of which will require a lot of investment in the short to medium term if FCEVs are to become more widely deployed. With governmental support for fuel-cell vehicle technology also being sparse, IDTechEx suggests that greater fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emission penalties could help to drive more investment in green technologies such as FCEVs.
The maturity of FCEV components, and therefore their reliability and performance, could also provide challenges, as they are not yet widespread, and data is somewhat limited. As a result, there is limited standardization of refuelling protocols and storage pressures.
BEVs are continuing to see much greater interest currently, though in Japan and Korea, there has been notable funding for hydrogen infrastructure, alongside subsidies for FCEVs, to help drive uptake. South Korea has also provided subsidies for FCEVs in recent years, much greater than those offered for BEVs.
To find out more about IDTechEx's “Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2025-2045: Markets, Technologies, Forecasts” report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/FCEVs.
For the full portfolio of electric vehicles market research available from IDTechEx, please see www.IDTechEx.com/Research/EV.
