Hybrid hydrogen vehicles

Still, the efficiency of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles is about twice that of current internal combustion engines on the highway, and about three times as high in urban traffic (and between 1-1.5 times more than hybrid electric vehicles (IEA, 2005)). A clear advantage of fuel cells is that at part loads, fuel-cell drives have a higher... 

Figure 15.3 shows the number of hydrogen vehicle sales per year for each scenario, and compares this with the historical market penetration of gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) in the USA, with the HEV curves displaced by 12 years, to reflect hydrogen s later introduction into the market. Scenarios 1 and 2 are similar to the market introduction rate of gasoline hybrid vehicles in the United States, but... 

The calculations of the carbon emission reduction are based on the deviation from the reference-system gasoline in a combustion engine. If reference systems with higher efficiencies are applied, e.g., hybrid-electric vehicles, the total carbon emission reduction of the hydrogen path is lower. In this case, a modern CAES power plant might have benefits. 

When CCS is practiced in association with central production it also contributes in a very significant way to CO2 reduction from the transport sector. This clean hydrogen could have well-to-wheel emissions of 2.5-kg C02 per kg H2, a level at which the transport-sector emissions would be reduced by 85%, when hydrogen fuel cell vehicles replace hybrid ICE vehicles. We have shown that this emission level can be achieved both for gaseous and liquid distribution of hydrogen, and that the total costs for both distribution modes are similar, offering the possibility to adapt flexibly to local retail preferences and industrial opportunities. 

Gasoline use by light-duty vehicles with or without hybrid and hydrogen vehicles,... 

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. 

Finding 5-1. Hydrogen from central station plant natural gas or coal, used in fuel cell vehicles, can be roughly cost-equivalent to gasoline in a hybrid electric vehicle, on a gasoline-efficiency-adjusted (GEA) basis. For natural gas and coal, the differences between current and possible future technologies are relatively small, in comparison to the committee s estimation accuracy. 

In order to examine the impacts of the hydrogen introduction, the committee examined a case in which no hydrogen vehicles are introduced, but hybrids capture the entire market share that would have been captured by hydrogen vehicles. In this case, the time path of conventional vehicles remains the same as in the committee s plausible but optimistic vision. For every additional hydrogen vehicle in this analysis, there is one fewer hybrid electric vehicle. 

Figure 6-4 also displays two other trajectories of gasoline consumption. The first shows an estimate of gasoline consumption in the absence of either hybrid electric vehicles or hydrogen vehicles. It shows that gasoline consumption would continue increasing at rates consistent with historical... 

FIGURE 6-2 Postulated fuel economy based on the optimistic vision of the committee for conventional, hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles (passenger cars and light-duty trucks), 2000-2050. 

---