International Newsmaker Q&A: Claudia Fried
Pursuing widespread development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Germany’s Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) is an international consortium that includes automakers such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen. Other members include chemical companies involved in hydrogen production.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Claudia Fried, says she views the initiative as a path toward “ensuring that we continue to be mobile while also protecting our finite resources of nature for our children.”
She points out that hydrogen has a viable future as a superior automotive fuel:
Q: Where does hydrogen actually come from?
A: Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas and has an atomic weight of 1, which puts it right at the beginning of our periodic table. Hydrogen consists of a proton and an electron. The most common form of hydrogen consists of diatomic molecules (H2).
Hydrogen is available in almost unlimited quantities, but on Earth is found only in compound form with other elements, such as water (H2O), in a variety of hydrocarbons (oil, gas, coal, biomass, etc.) or other organic compounds. However, it can be separated using energy, which it then turns into a chemical store of energy – an energy carrier.
Q: Why use hydrogen as an auto fuel?
A: Hydrogen offers a sustainable answer to three major challenges: reduced emissions, the desire for diversification and ending our dependence on just a few, finite sources of energy.
Even if the great volume of hydrogen is a challenge, its high energy density is a compelling argument. For comparison: One kilogram of H2 contains approximately three times the energy of a kilo of oil. But the crucial factor in avoiding climate change is the source of the energy used to produce the hydrogen. Produced in a regenerative way, hydrogen is a clean energy carrier that makes it possible, for instance, to use renewable energies in the transport sector.
Hydrogen as an alternative fuel enhances Germany’s leading international position in the field of future-oriented fuel and propulsion concepts.
Q: How is hydrogen liquefied?
A: To store hydrogen in liquid form after it is produced, it needs to be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius (= 20 K). This is the temperature at which hydrogen turns into a liquid. Modern liquefaction plants supply about 10 to 15 tons of hydrogen per day. The CEP partner Linde’s production facility in Leuna has a capacity of 4.5 t/day. Approximately one-third of the energy stored in the hydrogen is needed for the liquefaction process.
Q: How much does hydrogen cost?
A: Mobile hydrogen technology is still at the developmental stage. So on the costs side, hydrogen cannot yet be compared with conventional fuels. The CEP believes in a future for hydrogen where there will be no price difference between petrol/gasoline and hydrogen. At present, the price is pegged at between 7 and 8 EUR per kg of hydrogen, and production costs still exceed this. A fuel-cell car can drive 100 km on 1 kg of hydrogen.
Q: When will hydrogen-powered cars become readily available?
A: The Clean Energy Partnership demonstration project already has close-to-production vehicles from its automotive partners, which are being used on the road. A number of CEP partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to produce high numbers of fuel-cell cars starting in 2015.
Q: How many hydrogen refueling stations are there?
A: There are 175 hydrogen filling stations worldwide; 27 are currently registered in Germany. The Clean Energy Partnership is planning five new filling stations by 2016. In the H2 Mobility initiative, CEP partners have pledged to take further steps to build a hydrogen infrastructure in Europe, with Germany as its starting point.
Q: How do you refuel a hydrogen car?
A: Customers fill up at the hydrogen fuel stations in much the same way as they would with conventional fuel, by manually putting the nozzle of the fuel pump into the filler neck. The differences result from the high volatility of hydrogen, its low temperatures and the high filling pressures. As a result the nozzle and tank stub are connected using a coupling that is pressure-, gas- and temperature-tight.
Q: What is the connection between hydrogen cars and electric cars?
A: Fuel cell-vehicles – colloquially also known as hydrogen cars – have an electric motor, which gets electricity from a fuel cell. Inside the fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen react in a chemical process, releasing the energy stored in the hydrogen as electricity to drive the engine. The by-product of this electrochemical process is water, which is discharged through the exhaust. A vehicle fuel cell is made up of many individual cells which, when connected in series in a stack, generate sufficient power to drive an electric motor.
Apart from testing fuel cell vehicles, the CEP also uses cars and buses with combustion engines.
Q: Is hydrogen safe?
A: Hydrogen is an energy carrier comparable to natural gas. However, as the lightest element of all, hydrogen evaporates much more quickly when discharged – at speeds of over 30 km/h. Unlike mineral oils, hydrogen does not contaminate the soil. Hydrogen is nontoxic, odorless and non-corrosive. When properly handled, hydrogen is not a dangerous gas. The CEP uses only state-of-the-art technology.
Q: The CEP is a lighthouse project in Germany’s National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP). What does this mean and why is this project receiving public funding?
A: Lighthouse projects form a bridge between research and/or development and the later marketplace. They serve to prepare the ground for and initiate the broad-scale marketing of a technology. The CEP is a lighthouse project within the NIP. The NIP provides a shared framework for numerous hydrogen and fuel cell research projects in academe and industry. In this innovation program, the federal government has earmarked 200 million EUR in public funds for research and development, and another 500 million EUR for the demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in transport, on-site power supply and special markets. The industry’s contribution doubles this amount, so that by 2016 some 1.4 billion EUR will be invested in promoting hydrogen and fuel cell technology.
Funding from the (German) federal government is enormously important for industry. It confirms the federal government’s fuel strategy drawn up in coordination with the VES (Transport-related Energy Strategy) initiative and ensures that a technology – hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the case of the CEP – has the approval and support of the political sector.
Thus lighthouse projects concentrate public and private funds in such a way that the critical mass of technology expertise and financial clout needed for efficient research and development and successful demonstration is reached, ensuring a good expenditure-to-effectiveness ratio for the German economy. Potential synergies are exploited and interdisciplinary cooperation is promoted.
For more information, visit www.cleanenergypartnership.de.
Pursuing widespread development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Germany’s Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) is an international consortium that includes automakers such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen. Other members include chemical companies involved in hydrogen production.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Claudia Fried, says she views the initiative as a path toward “ensuring that we continue to be mobile while also protecting our finite resources of nature for our children.”
She points out that hydrogen has a viable future as a superior automotive fuel:
Q: Where does hydrogen actually come from?
A: Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas and has an atomic weight of 1, which puts it right at the beginning of our periodic table. Hydrogen consists of a proton and an electron. The most common form of hydrogen consists of diatomic molecules (H2).
Hydrogen is available in almost unlimited quantities, but on Earth is found only in compound form with other elements, such as water (H2O), in a variety of hydrocarbons (oil, gas, coal, biomass, etc.) or other organic compounds. However, it can be separated using energy, which it then turns into a chemical store of energy – an energy carrier.
Q: Why use hydrogen as an auto fuel?
A: Hydrogen offers a sustainable answer to three major challenges: reduced emissions, the desire for diversification and ending our dependence on just a few, finite sources of energy.
Even if the great volume of hydrogen is a challenge, its high energy density is a compelling argument. For comparison: One kilogram of H2 contains approximately three times the energy of a kilo of oil. But the crucial factor in avoiding climate change is the source of the energy used to produce the hydrogen. Produced in a regenerative way, hydrogen is a clean energy carrier that makes it possible, for instance, to use renewable energies in the transport sector.
Hydrogen as an alternative fuel enhances Germany’s leading international position in the field of future-oriented fuel and propulsion concepts.
Q: How is hydrogen liquefied?
A: To store hydrogen in liquid form after it is produced, it needs to be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius (= 20 K). This is the temperature at which hydrogen turns into a liquid. Modern liquefaction plants supply about 10 to 15 tons of hydrogen per day. The CEP partner Linde’s production facility in Leuna has a capacity of 4.5 t/day. Approximately one-third of the energy stored in the hydrogen is needed for the liquefaction process.
Q: How much does hydrogen cost?
A: Mobile hydrogen technology is still at the developmental stage. So on the costs side, hydrogen cannot yet be compared with conventional fuels. The CEP believes in a future for hydrogen where there will be no price difference between petrol/gasoline and hydrogen. At present, the price is pegged at between 7 and 8 EUR per kg of hydrogen, and production costs still exceed this. A fuel-cell car can drive 100 km on 1 kg of hydrogen.
Q: When will hydrogen-powered cars become readily available?
A: The Clean Energy Partnership demonstration project already has close-to-production vehicles from its automotive partners, which are being used on the road. A number of CEP partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to produce high numbers of fuel-cell cars starting in 2015.
Q: How many hydrogen refueling stations are there?
A: There are 175 hydrogen filling stations worldwide; 27 are currently registered in Germany. The Clean Energy Partnership is planning five new filling stations by 2016. In the H2 Mobility initiative, CEP partners have pledged to take further steps to build a hydrogen infrastructure in Europe, with Germany as its starting point.
Q: How do you refuel a hydrogen car?
A: Customers fill up at the hydrogen fuel stations in much the same way as they would with conventional fuel, by manually putting the nozzle of the fuel pump into the filler neck. The differences result from the high volatility of hydrogen, its low temperatures and the high filling pressures. As a result the nozzle and tank stub are connected using a coupling that is pressure-, gas- and temperature-tight.
Q: What is the connection between hydrogen cars and electric cars?
A: Fuel cell-vehicles – colloquially also known as hydrogen cars – have an electric motor, which gets electricity from a fuel cell. Inside the fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen react in a chemical process, releasing the energy stored in the hydrogen as electricity to drive the engine. The by-product of this electrochemical process is water, which is discharged through the exhaust. A vehicle fuel cell is made up of many individual cells which, when connected in series in a stack, generate sufficient power to drive an electric motor.
Apart from testing fuel cell vehicles, the CEP also uses cars and buses with combustion engines.
Q: Is hydrogen safe?
A: Hydrogen is an energy carrier comparable to natural gas. However, as the lightest element of all, hydrogen evaporates much more quickly when discharged – at speeds of over 30 km/h. Unlike mineral oils, hydrogen does not contaminate the soil. Hydrogen is nontoxic, odorless and non-corrosive. When properly handled, hydrogen is not a dangerous gas. The CEP uses only state-of-the-art technology.
Q: The CEP is a lighthouse project in Germany’s National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP). What does this mean and why is this project receiving public funding?
A: Lighthouse projects form a bridge between research and/or development and the later marketplace. They serve to prepare the ground for and initiate the broad-scale marketing of a technology. The CEP is a lighthouse project within the NIP. The NIP provides a shared framework for numerous hydrogen and fuel cell research projects in academe and industry. In this innovation program, the federal government has earmarked 200 million EUR in public funds for research and development, and another 500 million EUR for the demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in transport, on-site power supply and special markets. The industry’s contribution doubles this amount, so that by 2016 some 1.4 billion EUR will be invested in promoting hydrogen and fuel cell technology.
Funding from the (German) federal government is enormously important for industry. It confirms the federal government’s fuel strategy drawn up in coordination with the VES (Transport-related Energy Strategy) initiative and ensures that a technology – hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the case of the CEP – has the approval and support of the political sector.
Thus lighthouse projects concentrate public and private funds in such a way that the critical mass of technology expertise and financial clout needed for efficient research and development and successful demonstration is reached, ensuring a good expenditure-to-effectiveness ratio for the German economy. Potential synergies are exploited and interdisciplinary cooperation is promoted.
For more information, visit www.cleanenergypartnership.de.
About the Author
James Guyette
James E. Guyette is a long-time contributing editor to Aftermarket Business World, ABRN and Motor Age magazines.