All,
Enough about autonomous buses and Rivian surprise reveals.
It's time to get back to one of my favorite subjects -- hydrogen.
Did you see the deal that GM, Georgia and Nel just announced?
General Motors will release a fleet of medium-duty trucks that run on hydrogen fuel cells as part of a pilot project sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The goal is to prove out the capabilities of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, as a viable alternative to diesel vehicles.
The trucks’ development will receive funds from DOE’s SuperTruck program, which aims to reduce carbon emissions among heavy- and medium-duty vehicles. The total project will cost $65 million, with $26 million coming from DOE, and GM and its partners providing the rest.
The trucks’ development would be funded under DOE’s SuperTruck program
The trucks will share an exterior design with today’s Chevy Silverado 5500 medium-duty trucks. But under the hood, they will run on hydrogen fuel cells developed by GM’s Hydrotec division. The automaker is working on a number of other hydrogen-related projects, including mobile power generators, cement mixers, and heavy-duty vehicles. GM also has a joint venture with Honda to develop hydrogen fuel cells for a variety of products.
GM will deliver the fuel cell trucks to Southern Company, an Atlanta-based gas and electricity utility, for use as shop vehicles for its worksites. The automaker also envisions the trucks being used for farming operations and municipal services. GM will also work with Nel ASA, using the Norwegian company’s PEM Electrolyzer in an effort to create hydrogen more sustainably.
The Chevy Silverado fuel cell trucks will generate 300 kw of power and have a range of more than 300 miles, according to industry newsletter H2View..
Together with Southern Company and Nel, GM will integrate a fuel cell-based power generator, with Nel providing its advanced PEM electrolyser to generate onsite hydrogen and power GM’s fuel cells.
The microgrid project, developed by Southern Company’s electric subsidiary Georgia Power and approved the Georgia Public Service Commission, will be located at a Georgia power plant. GM and Nel will produce green hydrogen at off-peak hours and use it to power the site’s operations when grid power is most expensive.
Charlie Freese, Executive Director of Global HYDROTEC, explained that the truck and infrastructure plans will enable a “zero emission solution for heavy and medium-duty truck customers looking to meet their clean energy goals.”
I asked my fuel cell experts -- Tom Stephenson, Webb Johnson, Shane Stephens, Larry Burns and Byron McCormick -- for some added color. Tom wrote back. As a reminder, Tom is the CEO of Pajarito Powder, a fuel cell supplier to stack manufacturers.
"My sense is that they are providing both the conversion to hydrogen and back to electricity in a standalone “grid” and instead of using batteries to store energy as electricity, they are using hydrogen. They will create hydrogen with an electrolyzer when electricity is cheap and then convert it back with a fuel cell when electricity is expensive. This allows them, hopefully, to have a lower total cost of electricity. The hydrogen will also be used to fill up the trucks for Southern Company."
I've been hammering this point for some time now. The Hydrogen Economy has started. It's here. It's no longer 30 years into the future. GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota -- they are all putting markers out, trying to get a foothold in this new space.
Here is a crazy idea. If I were a legacy car company struggling to make lithium-ion batteries, why chase Tesla? You will never close the gap
Tesla has no dealers. Tesla doesn't advertise. Tesla has a huge advantage in architecture -- one main brain instead of 100 CPUs, eight feet of wire instead of 3 miles, giga castings, I could go on and on -- and fewer, less expensive workers. It has fewer moving parts too, less complexity, fewer supply chain issues. It has such brand equity. People aspire to have Teslas for the snob appeal. It's just not there anymore for BMW, Mercedes, much less Toyota, Honda, GM, VW, Ford or any of the others.
Perhaps other purpose-built EVs will eventually catch Tesla, like Rivian or BYD. But the legacy costs, the skill set and even mindset is not there at the big car companies.
So why not compete where Elon refuses to go? Fuel cells and hydrogen. And why not take a page out of Elon's playbook? He built the charging infrastructure, more or less, without much government assistance or interference. I believe a thought-leading car company could do the same thing, even if it were just 100 hydrogen stations in a concentrated area, like LA or Silicon Valley. Or in Hawaii. GM once estimated we could put hydrogen within 5 miles of everybody on Oahu with just 20 stations. That's 8 million people a year -- both residents and tourists.
If 10 car companies collaborated and built 100 stations each over a decade, that would place 1,000 hydrogen stations in highly populated areas. Could you blanket California and the East Coast? Maybe. Or grow out from California to add Arizona, Nevada and maybe Oregon.
You could even combine batteries (let's say a small one for most commutes under 50 miles, less than 80kw) with a fuel cell range extender to cover those range anxiety stretches of 100-300 miles.. Put EV chargers at the hydrogen stations so you could do both things at once. Charge and refuel. That way, the two technologies would be linked. Not pitted against each other for some weird political agenda some people have. GM experimented with this back in my day. Stellantis has been showing such a concept in a future Ram product.
While I'm dreaming about a hydrogen future, my fuel cell guys keep sending me hydrogen story after hydrogen story.
Like this one from Byron McCormick.
Of all the emerging forms of aviation propulsion, hydrogen seems the least likely to be an early adopter. But Swiss-based Sirius has announced plans to start flight tests of a hydrogen-powered business jet in 2025.
Look at that thing. It is so cool.
The company recently introduced the Sirius Business Jet and Sirius Millennium Jet (the commercial version), followed by the hydrogen-electric propulsion system with ducted fans. CEO Alexey Popov gave Robb Report more insight into development plans and its timeline towards certification.
Like many eVTOL designs, the Sirius Business Jet will have both vertical takeoff potential as well as shifting rotors that allow forward flight. Like electric aircraft, the Sirius Business Jet will emit zero carbon emissions but will boast a much longer range and top speed. “We’ve just presented the most critical part of this aircraft—the engine,” says Popov. “It’s a sustainable technology that is part of aviation’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2050.”
If Sirius is successful, it would be a breakthrough—the first purpose-built, hydrogen-electric jet that is not an experimental aircraft or using an existing airframe. The Business Jet won’t be powered by hydrogen fuel cells but instead will use liquid hydrogen stored in cryogenic tanks that will power the electric motors, with a lithium-ion battery system as backup.
Sirius developed the hydrogen powertrain design and the ducted fan system, while its partner BMW Designworks is responsible for the interior and exterior. Tommy Forsgren, lead designer at BMW Group and responsible for the BMW Series 6, will take the lead on the design. The design group has been responsible for many aircraft interiors, both large and small, but this will be its first exterior. Other partners include the Sauber Group F1 on the design and Leonardo Aerostructures, part of the Italian helicopter giant Agusta Westland.
The Business Jet version will have space for a pilot and up to three passengers, while the Millennial Jet version will have seats for a pilot and up to five passengers. The design includes multiple ducted jet fans along both sets of wings, at the forefront and midsections of the aircraft, with a dramatically flared tail.
Hydrogen has a much higher power density than batteries, giving it a much larger range than pure-electric aircraft. The Business Jet will be able to fly 1,150 miles, thanks to extended fuel tanks. Its designated maximum cruise speed is 323 mph. Besides zero carbon emissions, Sirius says the jet will produce 60 dBA from the air, or about the same noise level as a conversation in a restaurant. The Millennium Jet’s range is about half of the Business Jet’s at 650 miles, though it will have the same cruise speed and dBA output.
Much larger aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus are working on larger hydrogen-powered aircraft, with the expectation they could be used commercially by 2035.
Or this one from a shipping seminar pitch letter Tom Stephenson this week..
"If the international shipping industry was a country, it would be the fifth most polluting place in the world. The emissions of international shipping matter – CO2, particulate matter, NOx, sulfur – just everything is far beyond the standards we apply for road transport and other aspects of life.
Arnaud Vasquez from Cannes, France, is a Captain and marine engineer with decades of experience on large vessels, yachts and frigates. His cruising experience includes the Mediterranean, Caribbean, the Bahamas and Florida.
During his time operating ships and yachts he realized that he had to be the change that he wanted to see in the world, and that’s why he founded HySeas Energy, a French startup aiming to build ships powered by hydrogen.
In our next webinar, Arnaud will talk about the decarbonization challenges of the marine industry, his decades of experience as a Captain and Marine Engineer – and what it takes to build ships powered by hydrogen."
For you Ted Lasso fans, do you remember the Roy Kent song?
"Roy Kent, Roy Kent, He's here. He's there. He's everyf@1*&where."
Hydrogen is a little bit like that. It's in the air, water and land around us. In vehicles, ships and planes. And, increasingly, it's in a string of stories in several different industries -- everywhere!
And I'm on a mission to keep shining the spotlight on every hydrogen success story until even doubters concede the Hydrogen Economy has arrived.
And now for the rest of the news.
Scott