POWERTRAIN This type of fuel cell arrangement
may solve some of the problems battery electric vehicles suff er with, such as very heavy batteries and long charge times, but if it is ever to fully compete with internal combustion, the hydrogen fuelling infrastructure must exist. In this case, the ICEBreaker vehicle has a large 700 bar storage tank in order to ensure range. “This is a challenge,” admits Harris. “So far, in the UK at least fuel cell vehicles tend to be operated on a back-to- base principle. In the future, what needs to happen is for the authorities to do what they are doing in the EU, committing to installing a fuelling network by 2030, with stations every 200km or so, which could give hauliers the confi dence to invest. We’re still waiting for the UK government to make a similar commitment. That said, there are a couple of interesting projects going on in the UK which will create some hydrogen refuelling capability to support truck trials. These are the HyHaul projects on the M4 motorway with capacity for 30
fuel cell trucks and the ZENFreight project in the north of the UK.” Another obstacle for widescale
hydrogen fuelling adoption to overcome is creating the gas in the fi rst place. Harris says, “Most of the hydrogen
today is grey hydrogen, either made from coal or coming from industrial byproducts, and even that doesn’t meet the demand in the UK or in other parts of the world. And it’s not green, it’s producing CO2
. The focus now
The ICEBreaker fuel cell prototype HGV
from both an environmental and cost perspective is to use renewables to create the gas via electrolysis. There are some projects being announced now which have received government support, such as the hydrogen production facility in Bradford. These projects will change the UK landscape by off ering green H2 at volume and at a competitive cost.”
For further information see:
www.intelligent-energy.com
The ICEBreaker vehicle has a large 700 bar storage tank in order to ensure range
The partners developed a fuel-cell strong architecture
10
www.engineerlive.com
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