Photo: Alstom
LNVG, the public transport company that introduced the world's first hydrogen-only railway line last year, will not use hydrogen trains anymore. Instead, they switched to battery-electric trains, which are cheaper to operate.
Many believe hydrogen is a better solution for clean transportation than battery-electric vehicles. Some even consider that hydrogen can be a drop-in replacement for fossil fuels, both in home heating and transportation. Toyota is adamant that burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine will become the norm and is investing heavily in hydrogen projects. Even though they know hydrogen is expensive to produce and complicated to store and transport, others consider it a solution for decarbonizing heavy-machinery sectors, such as mining, shipping, and even aviation.
The truth is that reality poured cold water on these dreams, although many refuse to see it. Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have been around for years, but their market share is now contracting instead of expanding. Data released by Korea's SNE Research shows that fewer than 8,300 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were sold worldwide in the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 11.5%. Besides that, even the most fervent hydrogen proponents are starting to understand that hydrogen is already a part of the past.
The German railway operator Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG), which started the world's first hydrogen-only service last year, abandoned plans to buy more hydrogen trains. The company, owned by the government of Lower Saxony, has invested more than €93 million ($85 million) in 14 hydrogen fuel-cell trains. The federal government also contributed a further €8.4 million, with €4.3 million spent on the world's first hydrogen train refueling station.
Still, the project appears to have hit a dead end, as the Lower Saxony government announced it would buy 102 battery-electric trains to replace the remainder of its diesel fleet by 2037. LNVG will also add 27 non-battery electric trains for a route that will be completely electrified. Asked about the hydrogen trains, the state's Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport, Building, and Digitization explained that they contemplated buying more. Still, market research showed that the battery trains were cheaper to operate, basically ruling out expanding the hydrogen project.
The battery-electric trains offer the advantage that they can be charged from the overhead electricity lines (catenary systems) where available or charging islands on non-electrified routes. Hydrogen has proven expensive to produce, even though it is arguably the most abundant element on Earth. This makes it more of an energy storage than an energy source, with the caveat that most energy consumed to produce hydrogen is lost. Only a small portion can be converted back to electricity using fuel cells.
Storing and transporting hydrogen is also problematic due to its high volatility. It can produce deadly blasts when it escapes from storage tanks, as it happened so many times. The latest accident occurred on August 9 in Austria, where a hydrogen tank exploded in an industrial park in Lebring. Because more than one hydrogen tank on-site could explode, the surrounding area was closed, and not even special forces were allowed to enter the site.
Although the Lower Saxony government did its homework and discovered that operating hydrogen trains is not economically feasible, there are many hydrogen train projects around the world trying to make it work. The US (California), Japan, Italy, China, Namibia, and India are among the countries that invested in hydrogen trains for intercity travel. Chances are, all those projects will be abandoned or operated at massive losses.
The truth is that reality poured cold water on these dreams, although many refuse to see it. Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have been around for years, but their market share is now contracting instead of expanding. Data released by Korea's SNE Research shows that fewer than 8,300 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were sold worldwide in the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 11.5%. Besides that, even the most fervent hydrogen proponents are starting to understand that hydrogen is already a part of the past.
The German railway operator Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG), which started the world's first hydrogen-only service last year, abandoned plans to buy more hydrogen trains. The company, owned by the government of Lower Saxony, has invested more than €93 million ($85 million) in 14 hydrogen fuel-cell trains. The federal government also contributed a further €8.4 million, with €4.3 million spent on the world's first hydrogen train refueling station.
Still, the project appears to have hit a dead end, as the Lower Saxony government announced it would buy 102 battery-electric trains to replace the remainder of its diesel fleet by 2037. LNVG will also add 27 non-battery electric trains for a route that will be completely electrified. Asked about the hydrogen trains, the state's Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport, Building, and Digitization explained that they contemplated buying more. Still, market research showed that the battery trains were cheaper to operate, basically ruling out expanding the hydrogen project.
The battery-electric trains offer the advantage that they can be charged from the overhead electricity lines (catenary systems) where available or charging islands on non-electrified routes. Hydrogen has proven expensive to produce, even though it is arguably the most abundant element on Earth. This makes it more of an energy storage than an energy source, with the caveat that most energy consumed to produce hydrogen is lost. Only a small portion can be converted back to electricity using fuel cells.
Storing and transporting hydrogen is also problematic due to its high volatility. It can produce deadly blasts when it escapes from storage tanks, as it happened so many times. The latest accident occurred on August 9 in Austria, where a hydrogen tank exploded in an industrial park in Lebring. Because more than one hydrogen tank on-site could explode, the surrounding area was closed, and not even special forces were allowed to enter the site.
Although the Lower Saxony government did its homework and discovered that operating hydrogen trains is not economically feasible, there are many hydrogen train projects around the world trying to make it work. The US (California), Japan, Italy, China, Namibia, and India are among the countries that invested in hydrogen trains for intercity travel. Chances are, all those projects will be abandoned or operated at massive losses.
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