https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2016/11/electric-vehicle-study-suggests-plug-in-batteries-better-than-hydrogen-fuel-cells/
{I beg to quibble with the statement that the Stanford / Munich study is
the first to compare the 2 types of vehicles, and the required
infrastructure. See The Emperor's New Hydrogen Economy published 2006.]
Electric vehicle study suggests plug-in batteries better than hydrogen
fuel cells
By Tereza Pultarova
Published Monday, November 14, 2016
Plug-in electric vehicles with batteries present a better option for
eliminating fossil fuel consumption than hydrogen fuel cell-powered
cars, a study has revealed.
The study by researchers from Stanford University, USA, and the
Technical University of Munich, Germany, was the first to compare the
two types of electric vehicles including to include analysis of required
infrastructure as well hydrogen and electricity generation.
The study envisioned a situation 20 or 30 years from now when the
technology is widespread and more affordable than it is today.
“We looked at how large-scale adoption of electric vehicles would affect
total energy use in a community, for buildings as well as
transportation,” said Markus Felgenhauer, a doctoral candidate at TUM
and former visiting scholar at the Stanford Global Climate and Energy
Project (GCEP), who led the study published in the journal Energy.
“We found that investing in all-electric battery vehicles is a more
economical choice for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, primarily due
to their lower cost and significantly higher energy efficiency.”
While both plug-in electric and hydrogen fuel cell cars directly emit
zero greenhouse gas emissions, the overall carbon footprint of their
operations depends on the way the fuel, hydrogen or electricity, has
been obtained.
Currently, plug-in vehicles are frequently charged using electricity
coming from fossil-fuels. Similarly, the most common way to obtain
hydrogen is currently through processing natural gas.
In future, however, as the cost of renewable power drops to the level of
fossil-fuel based electricity, electric vehicles would become almost
perfectly clean. The same goes for hydrogen fuel cell cars if the
hydrogen is produced through the process of electrolysis using spare
renewable electricity.
The major factor differentiating between the two technologies will thus
be the cost of the technology itself together with the cost of the
required infrastructure.
In the study, the researchers envisioned the town of Los Altos Hills in
2035. The affluent Californian community of 8,000 is already known for
the popularity of solar power generation among local residents.
The researchers envisioned that in 20 years, the community could be
producing all its hydrogen through electrolysis using spare solar power.
This hydrogen could then be used to warm up houses or produce
electricity in return when the sun doesn’t shine.
“We provided data on the amount of energy Los Altos Hills needs
throughout the day, as well as financial data on the cost of building
new energy infrastructures,” said study co-author Matthew Pellow, a
former GCEP postdoctoral scholar now with the Electric Power Research
Institute.
“We included the cost of making solar panels, electrolysers, batteries
and everything else. Then we told the model, given our scenario for
2035, tell us the most economical way to meet the total energy demand of
the community.”
To compare each scenario’s costs to its climate benefits, the
researchers also calculated the carbon dioxide emissions produced in
each case.
The calculation revealed that betting on plug-in electric vehicles would
be the most cost-effective way to achieve the required emission elimination.
“The analysis showed that to be cost competitive, fuel cell vehicles
would have to be priced much lower than battery vehicles,” said
Felgenhauer. “However, fuel cell vehicles are likely to be significantly
more expensive than battery vehicles for the foreseeable future. Another
supposed benefit of hydrogen – storing surplus solar energy – didn’t pan
out in our analysis either. We found that in 2035, only a small amount
of solar hydrogen storage would be used for heating and lighting buildings.”
They researchers hope to analyse larger networks of communities in
future studies and examine other factors that could influence consumers’
choices when deciding whether to buy a battery or fuel cell car.
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