Hydrogen in the UK: where are we now?

The UK could be among the first European countries to receive fuel cell vehicles from 2015, but what needs to happen now to prepare for these vehicles? Cenex’s Dr Peter Speers investigates

Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles are coming to a place near you. That’s the message sent out by the auto industry in September 2009, when eight of the world’s leading car companies signed up to a commitment to launch mass market hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from 2015.
    
Announcements about future dates for product launches for innovative technologies such as fuel cell vehicles are often met with stakeholder scepticism or indifference. However, one year on, the implications of this commitment are the subject of serious debate and dialogue not only across the auto industry, but also within the energy sector and in enlightened circles in governments across the developed world.
    
There are of course practical considerations: hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be deployed initially where market conditions are conducive for fuel cell vehicle uptake and, crucially, where a workable refuelling infrastructure is in place. The UK could be among the first European countries to receive fuel cell vehicles from 2015, but what actions need to take place now to prepare for the arrival of these vehicles? What are the benefits and risks from early support for fuel cell vehicle deployment?

THE PROS AND CONS OF HYDROGEN
The main advantage of fuel cell vehicles is their ability to deliver the benefits of electric vehicles (such as zero emission at point of use, low noise and energy efficiency) coupled with quick refuelling. While battery electric vehicles may be favoured as a short distance commuter car, fuel cell vehicles have the potential to enable drivers to travel long distances with the same convenience of a petrol or diesel car.
    
There are of course risks facing the car companies as suppliers of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The first obvious risk is the current lack of hydrogen refuelling stations and the second is the lack of a robustly quantifiable market of consumers for these vehicles, particularly if cost of ownership cannot be brought broadly into line with that for conventional petrol or diesel cars.  The latter is partly dependent on the former in that a developing hydrogen infrastructure needs to be able to provide hydrogen at an affordable target price, with $5 per kg of hydrogen considered to be a reasonable aspiration.  
    
Hydrogen production and distribution costs are not the main barrier to this level of costing. Rather the capital cost of infrastructure is seen as a pressing issue, with potential operators needing assurance that their investment can be recovered by a reasonably high daily throughput of hydrogen sales for vehicle refuelling. This ‘chicken and egg’ argument on whether vehicles or infrastructure should lead market deployment affects all alternative fuels. However for hydrogen, the investments required can be daunting, and, at least until now, the prospects of the deployment of significant vehicle numbers has appeared remote. It is true that neither the motor manufacturers nor the gas industry suppliers can foresee the development of a market for hydrogen fuel without interventions by, and support from, national, regional or local governments. This type of support is already evident in California and elsewhere in the United States, as well as in Japan and Germany.

GERMANY TAKES THE LEAD
While various hydrogen initiatives are currently under way the UK is not expected to be the first country in Europe to be supplied with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from 2015. That honour will likely belong to Germany for a variety of reasons, not least of which being the lead taken in fuel cell vehicle development by Daimler and the cross-sector support (among car companies, gas companies, energy utilities and regional and national government) that has been established as part of the country’s H2 Mobility programme.
    
The evidence of Germany’s preeminent position is clear from the presence of multi-million pound ‘hand built’ fuel cell vehicle demonstrators based in Germany. These vehicles make only occasional visits to the UK, as for example when Honda brought its fuel cell Clarity to the Cenex LCV2010 event at Millbrook Proving Ground this September.

UK HYDROGEN INFRASTRUCTURE
The Greater London Authority has been a long time supporter of hydrogen use in transport. London had one of Europe’s largest operational hydrogen refuelling stations during the period 2001-2006, when Transport for London participated in the European Union-funded CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe) trials, operating three fuel cell buses in the capital. Although this hydrogen station was subsequently decommissioned, another is being installed to support a second bus trial, called the CHIC (Clean Hydrogen in European Cities) trial, which is set to commence next year.  London is also seeking to participate in additional European funded projects, collaborating and sharing best practice with other major cities.
    
The London Hydrogen Partnership (LHP) has supported research to feed into the London Mayor’s plan to have up to 150 hydrogen vehicles in London by 2012. The fuel cell powered taxi developed by a consortium including London Taxi International, Intelligent Energy and Lotus Engineering represents the most obvious example of a London-friendly hydrogen fuel cell vehicle meeting the LHP aspiration to add fuel cells into its zero emission vehicle mix, alongside the roll-out of plug-in vehicles, including battery electric and hybrid vehicles.

REGIONAL ACTIVITIES
For many years, there has also been a strong regional interest in hydrogen technologies, with technology clusters having grown up over a 20 year period in locations including Scotland, the North East, the East and West Midlands and in Wales.
    
Unlike Germany, the UK does not have a domestic world-leading automotive company investing in fuel cell vehicles. It is however home to a thriving network of niche vehicle manufacturers, a number of whom are looking at integrating fuel cells into their offerings. These companies are using the ten operational hydrogen stations across the UK regions to assist with their applied research activities at locations including the Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough, Coventry and Glamorgan. Examples of current niche vehicle fuel cell vehicle deployments include Microcab Industries, with its concept of an ultra light-weight vehicle that can be powered by a small fuel cell. River Simple has a similar approach to vehicle development centred on the benefits of lightweight construction, with a fuel cell engine deployed in a quadricycle format. The early introduction of such lightweight vehicles mirrors the first generation of battery electric vehicles that are currently being used in the UK such as the GWiz from Mahindra REVA. As a link in UK regional hydrogen infrastructure, the UK will soon also have a large re-locatable hydrogen station operated by Air Products, based at Millbrook Proving Ground, to fuel vehicles for emissions and performance testing.  

BRISTOL ACCORD UKHyNet PROJECT
The most recent, and perhaps most significant, UK hydrogen initiative is the Bristol Accord. This is an agreement between the regional and devolved administrations in four UK regions – the North East, South West, Wales and the West Midlands – signed in June 2010 to foster collaboration in support of the accelerated uptake of low and ultra low carbon vehicles.
    
The Bristol Accord partners have invited Cenex to lead the first project being carried out under the Accord banner. The partners have signalled their intent to commence a project (the Bristol Accord UKHyNet Project) to establish a first implementation plan for the creation of a hydrogen infrastructure able to support the commercial introduction of fuel cell vehicles across the UK. This project will focus on testing the ‘UKHyNet’ concept, which envisages the rollout of relatively small scale hydrogen fuelling stations on a regional basis, which will then be linked to form national fuelling corridors along strategic routes. Proponents of the UKHyNet model estimate that a comprehensive national fuelling network could be achieved by the deployment of less than 100 stations.
    
Cenex will be working with regional organisations, gas companies and car companies to contribute to the development of an infrastructure implementation plan for the Accord Partners, as well as providing national leadership and continuity, with the ultimate aim of positioning the UK as one of the world’s leading hydrogen economies and a country where automotive manufacturers can launch hydrogen vehicles with confidence.

HYDROGEN FLEET TRIALS
So what does this mean for the UK fleet? Although there is demonstrable enthusiasm from a wide range of stakeholders in the UK for the take-up of low carbon vehicles, and increasing enthusiasm from the EU, there is an ongoing need to provide an evidence base for the wider public acceptance through vehicle deployment trials. Cenex’s experience shows that while passenger cars make the largest contribution to GHG emissions in the UK, they are also a challenging sector in which to carry out a vehicle trial as passenger cars display a highly fragmented ownership. In terms of early deployment of technology, by virtue of their return-to-base operation, captive fleets and vehicles that are given to people as part of their jobs make the best targets for early intervention.
    
There is growing evidence of UK enthusiasm for hydrogen vehicle fleet trials. For example, Sheffield-based electrolyser developer ITM Power has developed a Hydrogen On-Site Trial (HOST) project concept, whereby ITM Power delivers an on-site electrolyser to produce hydrogen and a hydrogen van for the company to operate within its fleet. The van is a converted petrol van, with the conversion developed by Revolve Technologies.
    
A number of public and private fleet operators have signed up to the HOST trial including the London Borough of Camden and Stansted Airport, as well as Scottish and Southern Energy. The project provides arguably the best opportunity at present for fleet operators to get experience of hydrogen vehicle operation.
    
The HOST trials follow on from an earlier collaboration between Cenex and Revolve Technologies that produced two demonstrator vans, one of which was recently deployed in a postal van trial conducted with Royal Mail in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

CONCLUSION
Commercial availability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is going to be a reality sooner than many people think. While the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure is often cited as a major barrier to the adoption of hydrogen vehicles, the Bristol Accord UKHyNet project is expected to show that a relatively limited number of fuelling stations at strategic locations could position the UK as a significant player in gaining the advantages of early adoption of these vehicles.
    
The German H2 Mobility programme illustrates that these initiatives will succeed if there is sufficient buy-in and commitment from all relevant stakeholders, from government to vehicle and infrastructure suppliers to the crucial early markets of fleets. It will be in the fleet market that these vehicles will prove their value, and it is vital that the UK fleet operator community takes the opportunity to participate in early trials of these vehicles to provide a robust evidence base for wider adoption.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Web: www.cenex.co.uk

About the author
Dr Peter Speers has worked for Cenex, the UK’s centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, since 2006. As well as responsibility for Cenex’s activities as part of the Transport Knowledge Transfer Network, he has been the lead author on a number of strategic technomarket studies, including the influential 2008 report Investigation of the Scope of the Transport Sector to Switch to Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles published in conjunction with Arup. Peter obtained a PhD in Chemistry from King’s College London, and did postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Manchester.