In the fast lane with hydrogen?

Fuel cell technology

Marvin Meyke, 16.11.2020, 08:00

In the fast lane with hydrogen?

Electromobility is a key buzzword when it comes to switching from combustion engines to emission-free drive systems. With its long battery charging times and low power capacity, which does not come close to the range of diesel vehicles, battery electric mobility is not an optimal alternative in the commercial vehicle sector. Another approach: fuel cell technology.

Alexander Heine, Managing Director of the CM Logistik Group © Hauke Mueller Photography

There are only a limited number of environmentally friendly alternatives in the commercial vehicle sector. For example, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is often traded as an environmentally friendly alternative to diesel. Rotterdam is the first port in Europe to be considered a bunker port for LNG, from which Germany, among others, also obtains its resources. However, as a fossil fuel with finite availability, LNG can only be seen as an interim solution. Hydrogen and fuel cell technology are proving to be particularly interesting for the commercial vehicle sector. The process not only enables fast refueling, but also ranges that can match those of fossil combustion engines.

"With regard to the mobility transition in the commercial vehicle sector, this is a serious alternative to battery-electric drives. Large vehicles require correspondingly massive batteries to provide the required power, which is why the use of fuel cells to provide energy appears to be a promising option here," explains Heine, Managing Director of the CM Logistik Group.

The development of fuel cell technology has been going on for ten years. However, since the People's Republic of China put the promotion of the process on the state agenda, the process has picked up speed. Nevertheless, there is still a need for optimization in the field of hydrogen: although the hydrogen truck exceeds the range capacity of the e-truck, it is still not possible to achieve comparable values to a conventional combustion engine with the same tank volume. The size of the hydrogen tanks also needs to be fine-tuned in the future. The price per kilo of hydrogen is on a par with fossil fuels, and its high energy density makes hydrogen particularly suitable for transporting heavy loads over long distances. "Due to the very thin infrastructure to date, expansion is absolutely essential here in order to exploit the full potential of hydrogen for the mobility transition," explains the container logistics expert. Whether the future will ultimately run on water currently depends on battery development in the field of hydrogen.

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