Technology Status of Hydrogen Road Vehicles

! the best cases however, hydrogen vehicles approach competitiveness, since middle term gasoline prices
of $0.40 per liter are not unimaginable, even in the U.S.; the hydride case of better-than-free gasoline
suffers from the assumed 210 km range, and from much less power than with gasoline;
! the great range in breakeven prices is attributable primarily to the uncertain cost-per-km of hydrogen fuel
in the middle term, due to uncertain price for solar electricity...;
! at lower interest rates, and higher baseline vehicle costs, hydrogen vehicles ...may be significantly more
competitive than represented here;
9. Vehicle comparisons
....if a safe method of disposing of vents from LH 2 tanks is developed, hydride vehicles will lose most of their
advantage.......since most of the breakeven gasoline prices for hydride and LH 2 vehicles are similar.
.....10-15 years research on hydrides has failed to produce the ideal candidate, which reinforces the notion that
more serious attention be given to LH 2 vehicles....
....if a compressed gas H 2 (he goes for 690 bar) vehicle could provide the range of an LH 2 vehicle at the same
cost, it could be the preferred hydrogen storage method.
.....costs aside, hydride vehicles would be inferior to gasoline vehicles in range, bulky storage, and
performance...while LH 2 vehicles have the boiloff problem, and bulkier storage than gasoline vehicles
10. Areas for further research
Concerning fuel storage, three areas are emphasized for progress: hydrides for higher vehicle range and
performance; “clever” repackaging of components to offset the inevitable loss of trunk space to bulky storage;
reliable, low-cost boiloff control devices for LH 2 vehicles.
The possibility of small-scale H 2 liquefiers for refueling stations should be investigated.....
Concerning safety, perhaps the most important research issue is to determine under what conditions hydrogen
can be shipped in the existing natural gas network.
Concerning performance and environmental impacts, ....it would be worthwhile to investigate the use of late
injection of high pressure gaseous H 2 on volumetric density, and also on NO x with lean operation (same for
LH 2).
Concerning cost, the objective is defined as the best-case described in the paper, because in any other scenario
hydrogen vehicles are not socially cost-effective, and in the worst cases they are extraordinarily expensive.
If however, a relatively high value is placed on avoiding greenhouse warming and reducing dependence on
an insecure and diminishing resource, this would change.
In conclusion, this paper does not support the notion common among policy makers that hydrogen vehicles
are strictly an exotic, distant-future possibility.....With a strong R&D effort, normal technological progress,
and the expected reduction in the price of solar electricity, hydrogen vehicles could be (socially) costcompetitive
within 30 years or less.
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