Bavarian automaker BMW has introduced plans to transform the intralogistics fleet at its Regensburg plant from battery to hydrogen energy, with FCEV forklift and tugger vehicles set to exchange the whole thing of its current fleet by 2030.
Regardless of gross sales of BMW’s battery electrical beginning to take off, the propeller firm continues to be investing closely in gas cell growth – from its newest iX5 Hydrogen FCEV idea to, nicely, the intralogistics fleet at its Regensburg plant, the place the corporate plans to make use of hydrogen forklifts and tuggers within the press store, physique store, and meeting strains.
BMW’s aggressive deployment timeline is, in fact, loaded with issues. For starters, little or no hydrogen is definitely “inexperienced,” and the vast majority of conventionally accessible hydrogen is created utilizing fossil fuels – making it each far much less environmentally sustainable than you may suppose … and much more costly than both diesel gas or battery capability.
Then there’s the outright misinformation, like this tidbit:
Switching manufacturing logistics from electrical energy to hydrogen will diversify our plant’s power combine – whereas optimizing logistics processes and saving beneficial house. The benefit of hydrogen is that refueling may be very quick – identical to with standard fuels. The filling stations required for this will probably be put in instantly inside the totally different manufacturing areas and don’t take up a lot house.
Undertaking Supervisor, BMW Regensburg, Katharina Radtke
I don’t suppose it is a scenario the place Katharina is making an attempt to unfold misinformation – however she does, like many hydrogen followers, appear to be misinformed.
See, while you replenish a storage tank with a fuel like H or CNG, the fuel heats up because it’s rapidly compelled into the tank, inflicting it to broaden. Meaning the identical quantity of gas takes up extra bodily house scorching than it does chilly – and, because the fuel within the tank progressively cools down, it contracts, leaving empty house within the tank.
Meaning you may “quick fill” a hydrogen tank to 100% in a couple of minutes, however it’ll finally settle again all the way down to about 75-80% full, even for those who don’t drive anyplace. You’ll then must “sluggish fill” the remaining capability to keep away from an analogous growth – and that can take hours.
You’ll be able to see an instance of this phenomenon, under, on this interactive infographic from the US Division of Power’s Various Fuels Information Heart (AFDC).
Electrek’s Take
In case you may’t learn between the strains, filling a tank with hydrogen isn’t any sooner than filling a battery with electrical energy, and even probably the most cryo-compressed hydrogen tanks can’t get too far previous a 90% quick fill … and so they produce other issues with boil off, leaks, and many others. All of which kind of begs the query: why make the change to hydrogen in any respect?
Again in January, MAN Vans’ CEO, Alexander Vlaskamp, instructed reporters that it was, “inconceivable for hydrogen to successfully compete with battery electrical vehicles.” Vlaskamp added, “Right this moment you can’t purchase hydrogen for lower than 13 or 14 euros … and it’s not inexperienced. And when we’ve got inexperienced hydrogen it is going to be wanted for the heavy trade of metal, cement, or plastic.”
So — if all that’s true, why is MAN, like BMW, persevering with to spend money on hydrogen-powered car packages? “Solely to check our speculation,” says Vlaskamp (emphasis mine). “We might use hydrogen for transportation in 2035, however provided that there may be sufficient inexperienced hydrogen on the proper value and the mandatory infrastructure is in place.”
To make sure it has sufficient H, BMW will set up a mile-long community of underground pipes, with six decentralized H filling stations, between now and Q1 of 2026. “As soon as the conversion is accomplished, our annual hydrogen consumption will probably be round 150 tonnes,” says Radtke.
Right here’s hoping BMW can get a greater deal than 14 euros for soiled gas by then.
SOURCE | IMAGES: BMW.
FTC: We use earnings incomes auto affiliate hyperlinks. Extra.
