Hydrogen infrastructure build-up for automotive applications

摘要

Some lessons for the introduction of hydrogen fueled vehicles can be [earned from experience gained by the introduction of natural gas fueled vehicles, either in Europe or in Argentina. While the European efforts have failed, at least until today, Argentina has achieved a remarkable market share of about 20% natural gas vehicles since the early 80ies. Beyond a short review on the constituents of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure, the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-example is analyzed to formulate some 'must be's' for the successful introduction of hydrogen refueling infrastructure: Clear concerted signals have to be sent by all important players, the politicians as well as the involved industry from car producers to fuel suppliers. Bi-fueled hybridvehicles are not seen as a proper tool, as they are forcing neither the user to look for hydrogen nor the supplier to provide hydrogen. After general considerations, various strategies and policies of different countries and manufacturers are reviewed. For instance, the electric hybrid cars as already today introduced by some Japanese manufacturers offer the chance of settling a maintenance infrastructure for electric drive systems already today which can be easily extended to cover full fuel cell drivesystems, once they are available.