ELECTRIC TRANSPORT
CAN HYDROGEN MAKE THE UK’S EV REVOLUTION A REALITY?
With bans on the production of new diesel and petrol-powered vehicles looming, new projects will begin across the UK this year – from charging stations to electricity generation. But, there’s one key ingredient that will transform the sector’s sustainability credentials – hydrogen, as Simone Bruckner, managing director of resistor manufacturer Cressall, explains
A
ccording to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT),
demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) more than doubled between November 2020 and November 2021. But if transport is to decarbonise before its 2050 deadline, there’s more to do to make BEVs carbon neutral. Fully decarbonising BEVs is tricky. Using energy
from the National Grid means that the sources used for electricity generation directly affect BEVs’ environmental impact. According to The Committee on Climate Change, electricity demand is set to double from today’s 300- terawatt-hour (TWh) requirement to 610 TWh by 2050, thanks to BEV uptake. To increase supply and decarbonise electricity
generation, the Government is investing in dispatchable low-carbon sources to support variable weather-dependent renewables in powering the grid when production falls short of demand. In the meantime, fossil-fuelled electricity generation is negatively impacting BEVs’ sustainability. Another concern is that rare earth metals are
major components of lithium-ion batteries. Mining these materials can result in huge environmental destruction, with the heavy machinery contributing even more emissions.
THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE Hydrogen is key to delivering transport’s decarbonised future. Industrial production of hydrogen is typically delivered through electrolysis – using an electrical current to
renewable source is used to produce electricity, then this creates an entirely carbon-neutral hydrogen fuel, known as green hydrogen. The Government has set a target to produce
five gigawatts (GW) of green hydrogen by 2030 and has already announced investments into projects like Whitelee Windfarm near Glasgow, which will use wind power to generate electricity for hydrogen production. Hydrogen produced in this way can then be used as a fuel source for an alternative to BEVs: fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). FCEVs are powered by proton exchange membrane fuel cells. FCEVs turn hydrogen into electricity by combining the hydrogen fuel with air and pumping it into the fuel cell. Once inside the fuel cell, this triggers a chemical reaction, resulting in the extraction of electrons from the hydrogen. These electrons then create electricity, which is stored in a small battery. FCEVs fuelled with green hydrogen are
completely carbon-free. The only end products of the fuel cell reaction are electricity, water and heat, and the sole exhaust emissions are water vapour and air. This makes them a more-aligned choice
with net zero goals, enabling a widespread, carbon-neutral EV rollout.
MAKING HYDROGEN VIABLE Although the benefits of FCEVs are clear, the technology behind them still needs refining. Studies into fuel cell function have shown that, when an FCEV begins accelerating, the fuel cell’s power output increases gradually to a point, but then it begins to oscillate and drop. This unreliable power output presents a challenge. The solution is to install a fuel cell for a higher
power requirement than necessary. For example, if a FCEV needs 100 kilowatts (kW) of power, installing a 120kW fuel cell would ensure there is always 100kW of power available, even if the fuel cell’s power output drops. This solution requires a resistor to remove the excess energy when not required, to perform a ‘load bank’ function. Cressall’s water-cooled EV2 is designed for
heavy-duty applications including hydrogen- powered FCEVs. It absorbs excess energy from the system and dissipates it as heat, which can be used to warm the vehicle’s passenger cabin. This protects the electrical system, allowing FCEVs to be very reactive to high-power demands, and accelerate and decelerate rapidly without storing excess energy in a battery. Although BEVs are the main player, it’s
important to not rule out the benefits that FCEVs bring to the market. Combining the two could be the key to unlocking the EV revolution.
Cressall
www.cressall.com
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sales@danlers.co.uk www.danlers.co.uk www.energymanagementmag.co.uk ENERGY MANAGEMENT - Spring 2022 13
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