Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Technology State of the ... - NEXTHYLIGHTS

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Technology State of the Art Review
Euro per unit of dispensing capacity (€ / kg-day)
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Refueling station cost as a function of its
dispensing capacity
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Capacity (kg-H2/day)
Refueling station cost as a
function of its dispensing
capacity
Figure 23 Cost of a hydrogen refuelling station as a function of its dispensing capacity.
The data points reflect either historical data or stakeholders‟ projections. The costs are
provided per unit of dispensing capacity (€ per kg-day) and include overheads (40% of
the cost). Figures are in 2010‟s money value.
Figure 23 suggests that the cost of a refuelling station reduces considerably (per kg
hydrogen dispensed) as the dispensing capacity increases, especially where hydrogen
is not produced on-site.
These costs are expected to reduce further over time. European fuel retailing firms, for
example, foresee 4% decrease in the hydrogen refuelling station capital cost between
2010 and 2030, due to increasing sales volume and design standardisation effects.
Refuelling time
The refuelling time experienced by fuel cell bus operators ranges between 7 and 10
minutes per bus, assuming 30 - 40kg of on-board hydrogen storage at 350bar. Typical
refuelling times for diesel buses are less than 5 minutes (closer to three minutes per
bus).
The longer fill times for hydrogen buses risks becoming an unacceptable level of
inconvenience for transit operators when dealing with fleets of over 100 buses. These
operators typically refuel all buses in a depot in a short overnight window of between 4
and 6 hours. Any increase in fill times per bus will cause problems with this window.
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