New research highlights the challenges in adopting hydrogen into European public transportation
New research shows 93% of decision-makers are concerned about the capacity of their grid connection to fuel existing electric battery or hydrogen-powered fleets, amid the sectors transition to greener fuel.
Specialist engineering company IMI commissioned research which surveyed 300 senior public transport professionals across the UK, Germany, and Italy. IMI aimed to give perspective to a less analysed part of the industry, that being the opinions and priorities of decision makers.
Participants outlined their emissions reduction plans for bus networks, with the entire sector pushing towards net zero. 89% of respondents stated hydrogen would be effective for overcoming battery-powered fleet limitations, such as weight, range, and grid strain.
Andrea Pusceddu, business development director for Hydrogen at IMI, said: “While many hard-to-abate industries have active research and development programmes concerning hydrogen’s use as a fuel, public transport is very well placed to reap the benefits of a potential transition. But this by itself isn’t new, and we wanted to find out more. However, there is little publicly available research on the opinions of those with a stake in the success of hydrogen, including public transport operators.
A further challenge appeared, that being the ability to store hydrogen safely. This is a key factor if hydrogen is to be used at scale. A total of 76% of UK respondents stated safety was a significant barrier to hydrogen use, with Italy shadowing this at 73% and Germany at 66%.
Pusceddu added: “This research aims to remedy that and has unearthed eye-catching statistics for those involved in the public transport sector and beyond. For example, 21% of respondents confirmed they had already purchased hydrogen vehicles, 61% said they would invest in the next two years, and almost three-quarters said they expect to grow their hydrogen fleet over the next decade.”
Hydrogen fleets are expected to grow, but no large-scale production and infrastructure plan exists currently. Decentralised storage is essential for hydrogen to work, with localised electrolysers helping to overcome these concerns without major intervention.
Pusceddu said: “This last finding is particularly interesting as a majority of respondents in each region polled shared this view, further underlining that these sentiments are held across the continent. However, only a quarter of respondents said they had access to permanent fuelling infrastructure, demonstrating that clear barriers to adoption remain that need to be explored further. Given this situation, on-site generation through decentralised electrolysis is an effective solution to bridge this gap, eliminating the distance between production and end users while allowing transport networks to trial vehicles without fuelling stations.”
The findings have been compiled into the report named ‘The Road Ahead’ from IMI, which looks into how hydrogen can be unlocked by using decentralisation. Inside the report is an analysis of how on-site electrolyser technology can impact ongoing impact, especially in Europe.
Pusceddu said: “Return on investment is important for any organisation, but it takes on greater significance in the public sector, especially when projects are in receipt of funding. Operators of EVs and hydrogen-powered vehicles not only need to prove hydrogen’s important role in decarbonising transport, but also that vehicles can be fuelled without having to wait for large, centralised production to come online. This presents a difficult situation, especially with a lack of in-house expertise in the sector.
“Indeed, this lack of familiarity can be seen in our research, where technical knowledge was the most-cited consideration by the report’s respondents when ordering new vehicles. Yet it does leaves open the opportunity for closer work with developers of smaller-scale electrolysers, such as IMI. Working this way will minimise risk and allow transport managers to demonstrate the value of hydrogen transport – an important advantage given vehicles are already being ordered.”
The full report can be read here.
