Hydrogen competition between electricity

As for the competition between hydrogen and electricity from renewable energies in the transport sector, it is clear that the use of renewable electricity in battery-electric vehicles is by far the most efficient application and yields a much higher C02 reduction than hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, owing to the high discharge rate of... 

For this study, the committee was not able to examine all of the options that may shape the future competition. Figure 2-9 illustrates the comparisons that were developed within this study. In particular, the committee focused on the competition between vehicles with on-board storage fuel cell vehicles supplied by molecular hydrogen in competition with internal combustion, gasoline-fueled vehicles, either as conventional vehicles or as gasoline hybrid electric vehicles. 

The alternative fuels and drive systems available only seem to be viable on the mass market, if the oil price stays above 60 to 70 /bbl for a sustained period. Oil prices peaked above 140 /bbl in summer 2008 and many experts believe that stable oil prices over 100 /bbl could be reached in the next one or two decades. The higher the market prices of fossil fuels, the more competitive low-carbon alternatives will become The principal choice here is between biofuels, electricity and hydrogen, provided that they are produced either from low/zero-carbon feedstock or that the C02 generated during their production is captured and stored. But higher priced conventional oil resources, on the other hand, can also be replaced by high-carbon alternatives such as oil sands, oil shale or synthetic fuels from coal and gas. 

The rather slow emergence of this technology is due to competition from other, simpler processes to generate electricity. However, the twofold concern about the rarefaction of fossil energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, and the desire to reduce our carbon footprint has revived this technology which, combined with electrolysis, is able to achieve conversions between two energy vectors hydrogen and electricity. 

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