Hydrogen buses, planes and fertilizers

Hydrogen fuel cell electric cars are already on the road. Toyota launched the Mirai sedan, the world’s first mass-market hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, in late 2014 while Hyundai unveiled its Nexo SUV in 2018. US start-up Nikola created a short-lived buzz with its promise of a hydrogen-fuelled truck before acknowledging it still had a long way to go. The air transport sector is betting on hydrogen to cut 2005 pollution emission levels in half by 2050. Two main paths are being explored at present, the first being directly as a fuel for jet engines, which will mean overcoming serious technical obstacles and modifying the design of aircraft. Even at -253 degrees C (-423 F), hydrogen takes up four times as much space as kerosene, which is what planes use at present. A second possibility is to combine hydrogen with carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce a synthetic fuel that can be used by itself or with kerosene without major engine modifications. The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has made hydrogen-fuelled planes a strategic priority, and is targeting 2035 as the date for at least one of three concepts to come to fruition. (H2 Planes, 2021)

In India, while Toyota and Hyundai have shown interest in the hydrogen fuel cell-powered car segment, commercial vehicle manufacturers like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have shown their interest in the CV segment. Both Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, two of the major CV manufacturers in India, have been working on developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. (NTPC fuel cell project, 2021)

Hydrogen is already widely used in the process of making fertilizer. French industrial gas group Air Liquide estimates that between 2030 and 2040, more than half its hydrogen sales will be to the industrial sector, with another 40 percent going to transportation and 10 percent used for “diverse activities”. In La Mede, southern France, energy companies Total and Engie are working on a solar-powered bio-refinery that is projected to produce five tonnes of green hydrogen a day to be used to make agro fuels. (H2 Planes, 2021)