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Fuel Cells
Social Cost Comparison Among Fuel Cell Vehicle Alternatives
J. Fernando Contadini
ABSTRACT:
A comparison of the social costs among emerging vehicle technologies can be performed using different approaches and variables. The objective of this paper is to compare the social cost of different fuels being considered for use in fuel cell vehicles. To address the necessary input values, a detailed analysis of different technological aspects was performed. These aspects are related to: the complexity of each technology (vehicle cost, maintenance requirements and life expectancy); vehicle performance (fuel economy and relative market share); fuel infrastructure (fuel cost); full-cycle emissions (fuel upstream emissions and vehicle operation emissions); and overall health costs to society.
This study compares the use of methanol and hydrogen fuels in fuel cell vehicles with the use of reformulated gasoline in advanced internal combustion engines, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. The input assumptions used are based on the current literature. The results show that both alternative fuel technologies are very close in their benefits, and both are superior to gasoline. Methanol was found to have the greatest benefit in reducing costs associated with damage to human health from air pollution.
INTRODUCTION
A fuel cell is a device that transforms hydrogen into electricity, while producing only pure water as an emission. While fuel cell technology has been used extensively in space exploration, with the development of the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) for fuel cell manufacturing, the idea of having "real" zero emissions for terrestrial transportation systems (vehicles + fuel) is becoming a realistic target.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCV) have zero tailpipe and evaporative emissions. In addition, there are no upstream fuel emissions for hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water when the energy comes from solar panels, wind or hydropower. However, in the short-term the cheapest way to produce hydrogen is by steam reformation of natural gas that does generate some emissions. Additionally, hydrogen transport and storage is problematic since it is the lightest gas at ambient conditions. Cryogenic liquid and compressed gas are the current options for on-board storage of hydrogen. Recent advances in carbon adsorption and chemical hydride slurry technologies are promising developments for increasing hydrogen storage capacity. Liquid hydrogen presents a lot of problems in terms of energy requirements and safety, while compressed hydrogen requires a lot of space, even compressed to a high of 5,000 psi - pounds per square inch. Using hydrogen as vehicle fuel also requires building a complete and different retail distribution system increasing fuel costs even more. To be competitive in the fuel market, the current cost of hydrogen must be reduced, especially solar "zero emission" hydrogen. In the medium-term, some experts believe that decentralized hydrogen production at the fuel station could benefit from the existing natural gas infrastructure and may solve the cost problem (DTI, 1998 and Ogden et al, 1998).
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