Refueling Infrastructure Research Articles

Techno-economic analysis of different shades of renewable and non-renewable energy-based hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles

The transport sector is crucial in our day-to-day socio-economic activities since it connects people and moves things around the world. Presently, the transport sector is predominantly driven by fossil-fuel-based systems, leading to an unsustainable impact on the climate system. In the quest for an alternative to fossil fuel, hydrogen holds promise in transport applications, whether by powering fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) or as feedstock for synthetic fuels. Even though hydrogen-powered FCEVs are zero-carbon and have high-well-to-wheel efficiency, the high production cost of hydrogen and lack of refueling infrastructure hinder its larger market penetration. In this review, firstly the techno-economic performance of the five different shades of hydrogen, grey, blue, green, purple, turquoise, and their associated carbon footprint were elaborately discussed. Second, analysis of levelized cost of different hydrogen colors to provide a clear picture of the cost-relative challenges and limitations in renewable and non-renewable hydrogen production routes and discussed the cost-effective hydrogen pathways. Third, the “chicken and egg” hindrance in deploying hydrogen refueling infrastructure by discussing the research on infrastructure deployment, hydrogen delivery pathways, and hydrogen refueling station (HRS) design based on the market of FCEVs across the world were addressed from global industrial perspective. Finally, the current status and future trends of on-and off-road hydrogen-powered FCEVs were discussed by addressing the key challenges to construct low carbon sustainable transportation.

Assessment of Hydrogen Mobility utilising MCDM method

Hydrogen mobility project in leh it is a pilot project lay five fuel cell buses and being driven around it aims to this project for general use in India fuel cell electric vehicles the first is deployment. hydrogen mobility projects world all started. Hydrogen fuel it up to demonstrate reliability vehicles and refuelling for planning the introduction of stations efforts by industry and government these combines. In Ireland, early hydrogen mobility debates occur, but they are in very early stages. The weighted sum method is a multi-criteria decision-making method, there are many alternatives and we must decide which is the best alternative based on many criteria. Alternative: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Timisoara. Evaluation Preference: Demography, Fleet, Refuelling infrastructure, Road infrastructure, Economy. From the result it is seen that Road infrastructure is got the first rank where as is the Fleet is having the lowest rank. As a result, road infrastructure has got the first rank, where the Navy has got the lowest rank.

Batteries, fuel cells, or engines? A probabilistic economic and environmental assessment of electricity and electrofuels for heavy goods vehicles

Uncertainty surrounding the total cost of ownership, system costs, and life cycle environmental impacts means that stakeholders may lack the required information to evaluate the risks of transitioning to low-carbon fuels and powertrains. This paper assesses the life cycle costs and well-to-wheel environmental impacts of using electricity and electrofuels in Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) whilst considering input parameter uncertainty. The complex relationship between electricity cost, electrolyser capacity factor, CO 2 capture cost and electricity emissions intensity is assessed within a Monte Carlo based framework to identify scenarios where use of electricity or electrofuels in heavy goods vehicles makes economic and environmental sense. For vehicles with a range of less than 450 km, battery electric vehicles achieve the lowest total cost of ownership for an electricity cost less than 100 €/MWh. For vehicles that require a range of up to 900 km, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles represent the lowest long-term cost of abatement. Power-to-methane and power-to-liquid scenarios become economically competitive when low-cost electricity is available at high-capacity factors and CO 2 capture costs for fuel synthesis are below 100 €/tCO 2 ; these fuels may be more applicable to decarbonise shipping and aviation. Battery electric HGVs reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to the diesel baseline with electricity emissions of 350 gCO 2 e/kWh. Electricity emissions less than 35 gCO 2 e/kWh are required for the power-to-methane and power-to-liquid scenarios to meet EU emissions savings criteria. High vehicle capital costs and a lack of widespread refuelling infrastructure may hinder initial uptake of low-carbon fuels and powertrains for HGVs.

Hydrogen fuel supply chains for vehicular emissions mitigation: A feasibility assessment for North American freight transport sector

Freight trucks powered by alternative low-emissions fuel sources such as electricity or hydrogen have gained significant attention as replacements for their fossil fuel-operated counterparts. Even though this shift to alternative fuels can reduce the operational emissions at the vehicle tailpipe, there can be significant emissions throughout their supply chains. A thorough review of the published literature highlights that a comprehensive investigation is lacking on the well-to-wheel life cycle impacts of hydrogen fuel used for freight transportation. Furthermore, a comparison between hydrogen-fueled and electric freight transport is unavailable in the published literature. This study comprehensively investigated the life cycle environmental and economic impacts of alternative fueled freight transport based on vehicle types and relevant supply chains. A life cycle impact database was developed for key electric and hydrogen fuel supply chain scenarios and was ranked based on the economic and environmental performance under different decision-maker perspectives. The life cycle emissions of delivering hydrogen fuel range from 2.2 to 12.6 kgCO2eq./kg of hydrogen whereas electric grid emissions range from 0.005 to 0.315 kgCO2eq./MJ. However, hydrogen systems that use electrolysis to produce hydrogen show better environmental performance over the complete vehicle life cycle compared to electric systems that are highly dependent on nonrenewable energy sources. The cost of ownership of a hydrogen and electric freight truck is approximately 2.15 and 0.54 CAD/km respectively. However, with investments from governments and private institutions to develop hydrogen refueling infrastructure, hydrogen-fueled freight vehicles have the potential for reducing GHG emissions in the road transportation sector.

Evacuation route planning for alternative fuel vehicles

As the number of adopted alternative fuel vehicles increases, it is crucial for communities (especially those that are susceptible to hazards) to make evacuation plans that account for such vehicles refueling needs. During emergencies that require preemptive evacuation planning, travelers using alternative fuel vehicles are vulnerable when evacuation routes do not provide access to refueling stations on their way to shelters. In this paper, we formulate and solve a novel seamless evacuation route plan problem, by designing |K| spanning trees with side constraints that capture the refueling needs of each k∈K vehicle fuel type on their way to reach a shelter. We develop a branch-and-price matheuristic algorithm based on column generation to solve the evacuation route planning problem. We apply the proposed framework to the Sioux Falls transportation network with existing infrastructure deployment and present numerical experiments. Specifically, we discuss the optimal system evacuation travel and refueling times under scenarios of various alternative fuel vehicle driving ranges. Our findings show that the characteristics of each vehicle fuel type, like driving range and the refueling infrastructure topology, play a pivotal role in determining evacuation route plans. This means that an evacuation route could prove unique to a single vehicle fuel type, while being infeasible to others. Finally, we observe that the driving range constraints could force evacuee vehicles to detour to meet their refueling needs before reaching safety and increase the total evacuation time by 7.32 % in one of evaluated scenarios.

About the possibility of using natural gas as a fuel on agricultural tractors

AIMS: Evaluation of the effectiveness of converting diesel engines used in agricultural self-propelled vehicles to fully or partially natural gas (methane) fueled engines.
 METHOD: Is analytical.
 RESULTS: In agriculture up to 25% of operating expenses are fuel costs. However, the only number of the concomitant objective and subjective factors allow us to estimate expedience and efficiency of converting diesel engines used in agricultural self-propelled vehicles for full or partial supply of natural gas (methane). On the one hand, the price of an equivalent amount (in terms of work performance) of natural gas is more than 2 times lower than the price of diesel fuel. At the same time, natural gas is the most environmentally friendly hydrocar-bon fuel. But, on the other hand, the underdeveloped refueling infrastructure is obvious, and the environmental friendliness of natural gas itself is not a guarantee of the environmental friendliness of the engine itself. Also, the safety of gas equipment operation under high pressure is an important matter.
 CONCLUSIONS: Firstly, the use of natural gas instead of diesel fuel requires taking into account the difference in the physicochemical characteristics of these fuels, which determines both the requirements for the organization of the working process and the advantages and disadvantages of such replacement. Secondly, the combustion process of natural gas, compared to diesel fuel, is characterized by in-creased formation of water leading to more intensive watering of lubricating oil, although it re-duces carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere. Safety of natural gas equipment operation plays an important role, and first of all, it is concern of cylinders that are filled at pressure of 20.025.0 MPa.

Boil-off gas emission from the fuel tank of a LNG powered truck

LNG fueled vehicles are growing in many countries as a convenient solution for heavy duty and collective passenger transport due to the development of a capillary refueling infrastructure. Due to the known pressure build-up phenomenon, long duration parking of vehicles could cause flammable gas emission and potential explosive atmospheres in closed environments like repair workshops. In this paper, a model of pressure build-up and discharge is applied to small LNG tanks to evaluate the consistency of the phenomenon when pure methane is taken as reference for the calculation rather than the natural gas mixture. Moreover, it is compared with flow and pressure measurements performed for the first time, through a specifically developed suitable test facility. The scope of this study is to improve the awareness about the flammable gas emission from LNG fueled trucks in the safety framework. The expected results can be used to design ventilation systems to lower the flammable gas concentration and mitigate the explosion risk in closed environments.

An Analysis of Trends and Policies Promoting Alternative Fuel Vessels and Their Refueling Infrastructure in Europe

In recognition of the contribution of navigation activities to greenhouse gas emissions, there are ongoing efforts in Europe to deploy zero- and low-emission vessel technologies. The main objective of this paper is to present an assessment of waterborne transport decarbonization in Europe by analyzing key policies and trends. In particular, the policy actions put forward by the European Union Member States and the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2018, including refueling infrastructure, the market evolution of alternatively-powered vessels and their techno-economic barriers are investigated. Our work focuses on electricity, hydrogen and natural gas. Our findings suggest that the policy and market responses to promote alternative fuel and electric vessels in Europe so far have been rather weak and lag behind the efforts exerted on road transport. Our conclusion is that, besides further research and development, more ambitious policy measures are needed to keep the prospect of waterborne transport decarbonization within reach in Europe.

Complexity Analysis of Green Pickup-and-Delivery Problems on Ring Structures

In a Green Pickup-and Delivery problem (GPD), green vehicles (e.g., electric or hybrid cars) are used for routing in the problem domain, and these vehicles are particularly constrained with limited fuel capacity, thus shorter traveling range. A refueling infrastructure providing wide-area coverage, meanwhile, has not been fully developed to this end. A recent study reveals that vehicle routing inessence with green constraints only, is at least weakly NP-hard, motivating us to pursue a deeper understanding of the underlying computational challenge associated with this “green” intractability. In this paper we perform complexity analysis on several GPD subproblems (namely, RINGs), that is, theproblems whose task-graphs are under a ring structure. Using measures of width/length of rings, we delineate clearly two complexity boundaries: one between weakly and strongly NP-complete, and the other between tractable and intractable in general. Our results bring new insights for the research anddevelopment (current and active, but with limited success only to this point) of heuristics or algorithmsfor solving GPDs

Feasibility Investigation of Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure for Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Canada

A potentially viable solution to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions by vehicles in the transportation sector is the deployment of hydrogen as alternative fuel. A limitation to the diffusion of the hydrogen-fuelled vehicles option is the intricate refuelling stations that vehicles will require. This study examines the practical use of hydrogen fuel within the internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered long-haul, heavy-duty trucking vehicles. Specifically, it appraises the techno-economic feasibility of constructing a network of long-haul truck refuelling stations using hydrogen fuel, across Canada. Hydrogen fuel is chosen as an option for this study due to its low carbon emissions rate compared to diesel. This study also explores various operational methods, including variable technology integration levels and truck traffic flows, truck and pipeline delivery of hydrogen to stations, and the possibility of producing hydrogen onsite. The proposed models created for this work suggest important parameters for economic development, such as capital costs for station construction, the selling price of fuel, and the total investment cost for the infrastructure of a nation-wide refuelling station. Results showed that the selling price of hydrogen gas pipeline delivery option is more economically stable. Specifically, it was found that at 100% technology integration, the range in selling prices was between 8.3 and 25.1 CAD$/kg. Alternatively, at 10% technology integration, the range was from 12.7 to 34.1 CAD$/kg. Moreover, liquid hydrogen, which is delivered by trucks, generally had the highest selling price due to its very prohibitive storage costs. However, truck-delivered hydrogen stations provided the lowest total investment cost; the highest is shown by pipe-delivered hydrogen and onsite hydrogen production processes using high technology integration methods. It is worth mentioning that once hydrogen technology is more developed and deployed, the refuelling infrastructure cost is likely to decrease considerably. It is expected that the techno-economic model developed in this work will be useful to design and optimize new and more efficient hydrogen refuelling stations for any ICE vehicles or fuel cell vehicles.

Sustainable hydrogen manufacturing via renewable-integrated intensified process for refueling stations

The widescale consumer adoption of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEVs) is currently hindered by the high cost of small-scale hydrogen generation and the lack of extensive hydrogen refueling infrastructure. Natural gas-based hydrogen is cheaper when produced in large volumes but is also associated with high CO2 emissions. To counter these challenges, we propose a hybrid approach where both natural gas and renewables are integrated in a synergistic manner using a dynamic process intensification technology that can be deployed on-site for meeting local demands of refueling stations. The technology is based on sorption enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) that utilizes a combination of reaction with in-situCO2 adsorption for enhancing process modularity, productivity and efficiency thereby outperforming conventional SMR at small scale. We develop a mixed integer linear programming (MILP)-based optimization framework for simultaneous design and scheduling of the SE-SMR process. The simultaneous optimization provides a synergistic combination whereby the renewables allow sustainable hydrogen manufacturing and the dynamic SE-SMR allows optimal use of the intermittency of the renewables. The U.S. nationwide analysis indicates that for futuristic renewable prices and a hydrogen production capacity of 2 ton/day, hydrogen can be produced at 50% less cost compared to the current cost of small-scale hydrogen generation. The city-wise analysis with varying hydrogen demand shows that even with just 5% HFCEV market penetration level, hydrogen production cost less than $3/kg can be obtained at small scales across the United States with even cheaper hydrogen for large cities.

Fuel cell hybrid vehicles and their role in the decarbonisation of road transport

Nearly ten years have passed since the comeback of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). However, the percentage of such vehicles on the roads is still low and there is widespread concern about the long-term success of this technology. On the other hand, vehicles fueled with hydrogen, which it is beginning to be praised by several car companies as the fuel of future, do not yet have broad market acceptance, being even lower than battery electric vehicles and facing significant barriers for a widespread diffusion. In this research work, a novel type-approval test procedure is developed aiming to stablish an impartial simulation-based comparative analysis of technical feasibility, performance, range, and greenhouse gas emissions of two hybrid powertrains that manage electricity stored in a lithium-ion battery and hydrogen in tanks: Plug-In Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FC-PHEV) and Extended Range Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FC-EREV). The simulation framework developed considers the barriers and how to avoid them through the implementation of a set of fuel management rules. The findings indicate that hybrid powertrains achieve greater ranges and lower greenhouse gas emissions, opening the door to introduce these vehicles onto the market without the need to wait till the main barrier, the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, is fully developed.

Techno-Economic Investigation of Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure for Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Canada

Techno-Economic Investigation of Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure for Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Canada

Review on State-of-the-Art Unidirectional Non-Isolated Power Factor Correction Converters for Short-/Long-Distance Electric Vehicles

Electrification of the transportation sector has originated a worldwide demand towards green-based refueling infrastructure modernization. Global researches and efforts have been pondered to promote optimal Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations. The EV power electronic systems can be classified into three main divisions: power charging station configuration (e.g., Level 1 (i.e., slow-speed charger), Level 2 (i.e., fast-speed charger), and Level 3 (i.e., ultra-fast speed charger)), the electric drive system, and the auxiliary EV loads. This paper emphasizes the recent development in Power Factor Correction (PFC) converters in the on-board charger system for short-distance EVs (e.g., e-bikes, e-trikes, e-rickshaw, and golf carts) and long-distance EVs (passenger e-cars, e-trucks, and e-buses). The EV battery voltage mainly ranges between 36 V and 900 V based on the EV application. The on-board battery charger consists of either a single-stage converter (a PFC converter that meets the demands of both the supply-side and the battery-side) or a two-stage converter (a PFC converter that meets the supply-side requirements and a DC-DC converter that meets the battery-side requirements). This paper focuses on the single-phase unidirectional non-isolated PFC converters for on-board battery chargers (i.e., Level 1 and Level 2 charging infrastructure). A comprehensive classification is provided for the PFC converters with two main categories: (1) the fundamental PFC topologies (i.e., Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost, SEPIC, Ćuk, and Zeta converters) and (2) the modified PFC topologies (i.e., improved power quality PFC converters derived from the fundamental topologies). This paper provides a review of up-to-date publications for PFC converters in short-/long-distance EV applications.

Fill the Bill

An easily accessible refueling infrastructure is essential for hydrogen trains to be successful in the rail sector. Two leading operators share their experiences in building some of the world’s first hydrogen refueling stations

Hydrogen Gas Refueling Infrastructure for Heavy-Duty Trucks: A Feasibility Analysis

Abstract In view of serious environmental problems occurring around the world and in particular climate change caused significantly by dangerous CO2 emissions into the biosphere in the developmental process, it has become imperative to identify alternative and cleaner sources of energy. Compressed hydrogen is being considered as a potential fuel for heavy-duty applications because it will substantially reduce toxic greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutant emissions. The cost of hydrogen will be the main element in the acceptance of compressed hydrogen internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the marketplace because of its effect on the levelized cost of driving. This paper investigates the feasibility of developing a nationwide network of hydrogen refueling infrastructure with the aim to assist in a conversion of long-haul, heavy-duty (LHHD) truck fleet from diesel fuel to hydrogen. This initiative is taken in order to reduce vehicle emissions and support commitments to the climate plans reinforcing active transportation infrastructure together with new transit infrastructure and zero-emission vehicles. Two methods based on constant and variable traffics, using data about hydrogen infrastructure and ICE vehicles, were created to estimate fueling conditions for LHHD truck fleet. Furthermore, a thorough economic study was carried out on several test cases to evaluate how diverse variables affect the final selling price of hydrogen. This gave an understanding of what elements go into the pricing of hydrogen and if it can compete with diesel in the trucking market. Results revealed that the cost to purchase green hydrogen is the utmost part in the pump price of hydrogen. Due to the variety in hydrogen production, there is no defined cost, which renders estimates difficult. Moreover, it was found that the pump price of green hydrogen is on average 239% more expensive than diesel fuel. The methodology proposed and models created in this feasibility study may serve as a valuable tool for future techno-economics of hydrogen refueling stations for other types of ICE fleets or fuel cell vehicles.

Effects of drivetrain hybridization on fuel economy, performance and costs of a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle

Fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEVs) are considered to be the most attractive long-term option for passenger cars. Several barriers, such as cost, durability and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, must be overcome for a wider use of FCHEVs. In this paper, a mid-sized FCHEV is modeled and simulated in ADVISOR to analyze the influence of hybridization factor on vehicle performance and costs. The results are compared with those of the Toyota Mirai in order to find the optimum size of the fuel cell stack and the number of battery modules that meet various driving requirements, minimize hydrogen consumption and vehicle cost. The best results are obtained by reducing the fuel cell stack power by 58%. A 7.7% increase in equivalent fuel economy (71.6 MPGe) and a reduction of 25% in the vehicle cost is achieved.

Refuelling scenarios of a light urban fuel cell vehicle with metal hydride hydrogen storage. Comparison with compressed hydrogen storage counterpart

The high price of hydrogen fuel in the fuel cell vehicle refuelling market is highly dependent on the one hand from the production costs of hydrogen and on the other from the capital cost of a hydrogen refuelling station's components to support a safe and adequate refuelling process of contemporary fuel cell vehicles. The hydrogen storage technology dominated in the vehicle sector is currently based on high-pressure compressed hydrogen tanks to extend as much as possible the driving range of the vehicles. However, this technology mandates the use of large hydrogen compression and cooling systems as part of the refuelling infrastructure that consequently increase the final cost of the fuel. This study investigated the prospects of lowering the refuelling cost of small urban hydrogen vehicles through the utilisation of metal hydride hydrogen storage. The results showed that for low compression hydrogen storage, metal hydride storage is in favour in terms of the dispensed hydrogen fuel price, while its weight is highly comparable to the one of a compressed hydrogen tank. The final refuelling cost from the consumer's perspective however was found to be higher than the compressed gas due to the increased hydrogen quantity required to be stored in fully empty metal hydride tanks to meet the same demand.

An edge scanning method for the continuous deviation‐flow refueling station location problem on a general network

AbstractThis study addresses the continuous deviation‐flow refueling station location problem on a general network. Instead of having a finite number of candidate locations, we consider any point in the network as a candidate location. In addition, vehicles are allowed to deviate from their prescribed (shortest) paths to refuel. At the beginning, we focus on the location of a single refueling facility, which is a relevant problem in the initial stages of development of a refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels in a transportation network. The objective is to maximize the traffic flow covered (in roundtrips per time unit). We propose an exact algorithm that determines the endpoints of all refueling segments on each edge of the network that cover the corresponding origin–destination flows. Then, the set with the best endpoints is shown to be optimal and can be used to determine the entire set of optimal locations. Network reduction rules and a network decomposition procedure are also discussed to reduce the size of the problem and improve the computational efficiency. Later, the entire set of endpoints is used in a set covering model to locate multiple refueling stations under the assumption that every vehicle only needs to refuel once on each way of the round trip. Moreover, we limit the allowed refueling deviation distance from the shortest path. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed methodology.

Hydrogen economy transition plan: A case study on Ontario

<abstract> A shift towards a "hydrogen economy" can reduce carbon emissions, increase penetration of variable renewable power generation into the grid, and improve energy security. The deployment of hydrogen technologies promises major contributions to fulfilling the economy's significant energy needs while also reducing urban pollution emissions and the overall carbon footprint and moving towards a circular economy. Using the Canadian province of Ontario as an example, this paper prioritizes certain recommendations for near-term policy actions, setting the stage for long-term progress to reach the zero-emissions target by 2050. To roll out hydrogen technologies in Ontario, we recommend promptly channeling efforts into deployment through several short-, mid-, and long-term strategies. Hydrogen refueling infrastructure on Highway 401 and 400 Corridors, electrolysis for the industrial sector, rail infrastructure and hydrogen locomotives, and hydrogen infrastructure for energy hubs and microgrids are included in strategies for the near term. With this infrastructure, more Class 8 large and heavy vehicles will be ready to be converted into hydrogen fuel cell power in the mid-term. Long-term actions such as Power-to-Gas, hydrogen-enriched natural gas, hydrogen as feedstock for products (e.g., ammonia and methanol), and seasonal and underground storage of hydrogen will require immediate financial and policy support for research and technology development. </abstract>