Technology Status of Hydrogen Road Vehicles

temperature sensor, and more....In spite of higher figures advanced by the automotive industry, the cost of
pollution control equipment on gasoline vehicles, and the consequent price reduction for hydrogen vehicles,
probably would not exceed $300-400.
Concerning maintenance cost of pollution control equipment, it seems reasonable to assume that the present
value (10% discount rate) of foregone emission control maintenance costs would be at least $50, bringing the
$300-400 just mentioned to $350-450.
Concerning vehicle life, hydrogen shares with natural gas some of the properties that purportedly give the
latter its life-extending benefits, so, given a gasoline vehicle life of 210 000 km, 193 000-240 000 km is
assumed for hydrogen vehicles.
The incremental initial cost of hydride storage is subject to many uncertainties, but a cost range of $1500-2400
is assumed here for an advanced, mass-produced, complete hydride system...suitable for vehicular use.
Concerning hydride life and salvage value, it is assumed that hydrides could have a very high salvage value
at the end of the life of the vehicle - perhaps as much as 50% of the initial cost. - but only 15% is taken...
Concerning incremental cost of LH 2 storage, there are few, recent estimates of the cost of mass-produced,
advanced LH 2 tanks.....Using them however, it is assumed mass-produced, advanced, 80-100 l tanks, with fuel
delivery and boiloff control would add $700-1700 to the price of the car..... In the absence of good data, it
is assumed that Dewars would have a salvage value of 10-25% of their initial cost, at the end of the life of the
vehicle.
8.8 Vehicle maintenance, operating and other periodic costs
...balancing various factors, it is assumed that yearly maintenance costs with respect to the gasoline vehicle
base case would be 90-110% for the hydride vehicle and 90-105% for the LH 2 vehicle, and that hydrogen
vehicles would have 50-90% of the yearly engine oil replacement cost of gasoline vehicles.
In the cost program, the life of the tires on the hydride vehicle is equal to baseline tire life for the gasoline
vehicle divided by the ratio of the weight of the hydride vehicle to the weight of the baseline gasoline vehicle.
...the baseline gasoline vehicle registration cost...is multiplied by the ratio of the initial cost of the hydrogen
vehicle to the initial cost of the gasoline vehicle.
...it is assumed in the low-cost scenario that insurance payments would be the same as for the gasoline
vehicle,.....but....that insurance payments would be about 8% higher for LH 2 and 12% for hydride vehicles in
the high-cost case.
Finally, fuel lost to boiloff must be treated as an economic loss. In the low-cost case, it is assumed that the
vehicle is driven frequently enough to prevent any boiloff, and in the upper-bound case.....would be 10% of
the fuel.
8.9 External costs of hydrogen vehicles
The use of hydrogen from coal, and to a much lesser extent solar hydrogen, imposes several kinds of costs on
society which are not borne by those who pay for the vehicle and the fuel.
.......
The analysis is based on a 1987 DeLuchi report as updated to 1989.
For the gasoline vehicle base case, the external cost consists primarily of air pollution damages and the
macroeconomic costs of importing oil; it does not include the “costs” of a Greenhouse warming or of military
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