Road vehicle options

The options available for future modes of transportation are listed in Table 7.1. For road vehicles in particular, Figure 7.1 illustrates the complexity of possible interactions between the various energy sources (feedstocks), the derived fuels and the types of power-train, together with the many feasible combinations to be evaluated when oil becomes scarce. 

South Coast Air Quality Management District. (1998). Rule 2202—On-Road Motor Vehicle Mitigation Options Status Report. Diamond Bar, CA Author. 

The problems facing the development of a hydrogen infrastructure include the lack of demand for cars and trucks with limited fueling options and any incentive to invest in a fueling infrastructure unless there are enough vehicles on the road. 

The European Commission set up a stakeholder Contact Croup in 2002 to advice technical and economic developments and to promote the use of alternative fuels for road transport, including natural gas and hydrogen. The Contact Croup conducted an in-depth study of options for motor fuels for achieving a 20% substitution of diesel and gasoline by these alternative fuels. They provided their views on the potential market penetration of 5% hydrogen vehicles... 

Finally, a 2002 study by Argonne National Laboratory examining different infrastructure options calculated that infrastructure costs for fueling about 40 percent of the vehicles on the road with resource-centered hydrogen production would be 600 billion, an enormous cost. Not surprisingly, a great many analysts and advocates dismiss centralized hydrogen production as impractical for the foreseeable future. 

The Renault Scenic fuel cell vehicle (see the listed web site) has a specially developed high-efficiency squirrel cage induction motor for each road wheel, and is likely to have rivals in competing projects. However, at http //www.sustainability. renault.com/html/image.htm img=images/p/p.jpg, Renault shows a car layout with a front axle driven by one motor. There is a 48 VDC to DC converter followed by a DC to AC inverter. The hydrogen source is a petrol reformer. Evidently the project is still fluid. Setting out the options and alternatives is in hand. 

Bandivadekar A, Bodek K, CheahL, Evans C, Groode T, Heywood J, et al. Vehicle weight reduction options On the road in 2035— Reducing transportation s petroleum consumption and GHG emissions. Massachusetts Cambridge 2008. 

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