It's going to be difficult to beat the fuel cell car – ORNL

The US has been keen to promote hydrogen, and offer support for both infrastructure and vehicles. While still in the very early phases, clusters of refuelling stations are appearing and vehicles are being leased to the public in California. The US Department of Energy recently announced funding to a variety of hydrogen production and delivery technology projects in order to accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to build the new energy economy. The use of hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) has both significant advantages and disadvantages, but various projects are currently trying to remove the barriers. One project that received funding from the DoE was Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). David Wood is the Programme Manager, Fuel Cell Technologies at ORNL. Wood spends 75% of his time researching lithium-ion batteries for EVs and plug-in hybrids, and the other 25% of the time working as the Fuel Cell Technologies Programme Manager. He typically oversees a project on hydrogen production, delivery and storage with an annual budget of US$5-6m; that project also takes in fuel cell component development and some systems analysis modelling. ORNL currently has six projects funded by the DoE, and Zhili Feng is the Principal Investigator of the DoE’s latest award, developing underground composite storage tanks for fuelling stations. Feng and Wood spoke to Automotive World about ORNL’s latest project, and the prospects for FCVs. Can you please provide some background to the ORNL’s work on hydrogen? Zhili Feng: In California, there is a move to increase the number of zero emission cars. There are only two ways to do this. One is with BEVs (battery electric vehicle), and the other is with FCVs. All the major OEMs are producing zero emission cars and because they are large, they have resources to research and produce vehicles, despite them being expensive. However, having a car is only one side of the equation. You need infrastructure to support zero emissions vehicles. It’s complicated, because not many of the major OEMs can pull the resources to build hydrogen gas stations. Our idea is essentially a low cost, steel concrete composite vessel for high pressure hydrogen storage. Our work is to try to develop cost effective alternatives to what people are doing right now with hydrogen gas stations. We have ongoing activity funded by the DoE and were able to show we can meet its cost target by 2020. The DoE has a cost target for different parts of the infrastructure, and our new project is aiming to get around 20%-30% below the DoE’s cost target by 2020. There is considerable interest from the industry to work with us. Everyone is looking for cost benefits. We are working with around ten companies to try to develop the technology, and at the end of the project, our goal is to have something to show the industry. It would be good to work with different industries, so eventually there will be common ground to work together to build hydrogen gas stations for the future. David Wood: The State of California is actively and aggressively trying to build up to 100 fuelling stations within the next 18 months, but beyond these 100 stations, there will need to be plans for expanding fuelling stations and low cost storage solutions for the stations, of which Feng’s project could be a leading contributor. When will you be able to produce the technology commercially? ZF: We think it could be available in the next two or three years. We had a company looking into our designs a few months ago, but we weren’t quite ready because we required more testing data. It will be coming in the next few years, but first we have to follow a certain code of specifications. This is a cost effective design and it can be compared to what other companies are doing now. What are the main problems or challenges with storing hydrogen? ZF: One is safety and one is cost. Cost is a problem because of the high price of hydrogen, which is still too high to be competitive with gasoline vehicles. Safety is a concern because of the need to make sure everything is safe with the high pressure. And what are the key challenges for FCVs in general? DW: Cost reduction. The durability requirements are two thirds of the way there, and some OEMs have technology that is good enough for preliminary commercialisation, like Hyundai, with Toyota and Nissan not far behind. The performance is excellent, but the high cost of materials, such as the electro materials, and the need for platinum, are an issue. There is about US$1,000 worth of platinum in an 80-100kW stack, and the cost competition is a US$1,500 ICE. Two thirds of the cost are already spent on one raw material. OEMs have decided to make a loss initially to break into the market early, then position themselves for being a leader in future low emission vehicles. Do you think the automotive industry will require support from governments to bring fuel cell vehicles to market successfully? DW: I don’t think support will be needed on the vehicle side but the fuelling infrastructure really requires support. OEMs have engineering problems to battle with, such as systems engineering and materials engineering in order to lower costs and simplify the system, but without the infrastructure, a ‘Catch-22’ situation emerges. Can you see FCVs becoming a mainstream offering or do you think they will always be a niche product? DW: My opinion is that FCVs will become mainstream because they offer very low well-to-wheels emissions, with a large driving range that people are already used to. BEVs will always have a difficult time achieving this. They offer benefits that will become more important over time. ZF: With the current technology available, the batteries in BEVs weigh a considerable amount. When you look at the entire car in terms of weight, hydrogen vehicles also have benefits here as they are considerably lighter. What will be the dominant powertrain moving forward? DW: I’ve been in the field for about 19 years and I've seen steady, continuous progress [on fuel cell technology] not only here in the US, but internationally too. As the infrastructure continues to progress, it's going to be very difficult to beat the fuel cell vehicle. Are there any other powertrains that you think will be significant? DW: BEVs will have their place. I envision a two-car scenario, where you have a 200-mile range BEV for commuting and city driving, and a 400-mile FCV for longer distance trips. In addition, an FCV will need a battery as part of its powertrain, an electric/hybrid concept, so the two technologies are really going to co-exist and be commercialised together as we move forward. Do you expect all OEMs to offer fuel cell vehicles in their product line? DW: Yes, They're all working on them to some extent. Which fuel cells do you think will have the greatest success? DW: Low temperature fuel cells seem to be best suited for transportation, with the polymer electrolyte or proton exchange membrane fuel cell best suited for early market fuel cells. Because it’s not dependent on platinum, the alkaline membrane in fuel cells will be better for longer term technology. That would be one huge cost reduction and raw material sourcing issue that could be solved. As far as stationary power, the higher temperature fuel cells like solid oxide fuel cells seem to be the leading candidate there. In which markets do you think FCVs will have the greatest success? DW: At first, Europe will lead the way. Of the first 1,000 Hyundai Tucsons [sold as ix35 in Europe], around 900 are going to Europe and 100 to California. California has a long tradition of setting trends. Sometimes they are adopted by the rest of the US, and sometimes they are not. However, fuel cells are an area where California has been right for quite some time, and is showing some valuable leadership. The East Coast will also have some activities going on to build the infrastructure, but I think California is leading. Connecticut, South Carolina, New York and Washington have [hydrogen] stations too. Hyundai and Toyota will make the cars regardless of the market, but the infrastructure to support that needs to be built up too. If it becomes affordable, maybe we have a bright future. Rachael Hogg Follow this link to download the Automotive World report, “What next for the fuel cell car?”

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