Bavarian automaker BMW has introduced plans to transform the intralogistics fleet at its Regensburg plant from battery to hydrogen energy, with FCEV forklift and tugger vans set to interchange the whole lot of its current fleet by 2030.
Regardless of gross sales of BMW’s battery electrical beginning to take off, the propeller firm continues to be investing closely in gas cell growth – from its newest iX5 Hydrogen FCEV idea to, properly, the intralogistics fleet at its Regensburg plant, the place the corporate plans to make use of hydrogen forklifts and tuggers within the press store, physique store, and meeting strains.
BMW’s aggressive deployment timeline is, after all, loaded with issues. For starters, little or no hydrogen is definitely “inexperienced,” and nearly all of conventionally out there hydrogen is created utilizing fossil fuels – making it each far much less environmentally sustainable than you may suppose … and much more costly than both diesel gas or battery capability.
Then there’s the outright misinformation, like this tidbit:
Switching manufacturing logistics from electrical energy to hydrogen will diversify our plant’s vitality combine – whereas optimizing logistics processes and saving priceless house. The benefit of hydrogen is that refueling may be very quick – similar to with typical fuels. The filling stations required for this might be put in straight throughout the totally different manufacturing areas and don’t take up a lot house.
Mission Supervisor, BMW Regensburg, Katharina Radtke
I don’t suppose it is a scenario the place Katharina is making an attempt to unfold misinformation – however she does, like many hydrogen followers, appear to be misinformed.
See, once you replenish a storage tank with a gasoline like H or CNG, the gasoline heats up because it’s shortly pressured into the tank, inflicting it to broaden. Meaning the identical quantity of gas takes up extra bodily house scorching than it does chilly – and, because the gasoline within the tank regularly cools down, it contracts, leaving empty house within the tank.
Meaning you may “quick fill” a hydrogen tank to 100% in a couple of minutes, nevertheless it’ll ultimately settle again right down to about 75-80% full, even when you don’t drive anyplace. You’ll then should “gradual fill” the remaining capability to keep away from the same growth – and that can take hours.
You possibly can see an instance of this phenomenon, beneath, on this interactive infographic from the US Division of Vitality’s Various Fuels Knowledge Middle (AFDC).
Electrek’s Take
In case you may’t learn between the strains, filling a tank with hydrogen isn’t any sooner than filling a battery with electrical energy, and even probably the most cryo-compressed hydrogen tanks can’t get too far previous a 90% quick fill … and so they produce other issues with boil off, leaks, and so on. All of which form of begs the query: why make the change to hydrogen in any respect?
Again in January, MAN Vans’ CEO, Alexander Vlaskamp, informed reporters that it was, “not possible for hydrogen to successfully compete with battery electrical vans.” Vlaskamp added, “In the present day you can not purchase hydrogen for lower than 13 or 14 euros … and it isn’t inexperienced. And when we have now inexperienced hydrogen it is going to be wanted for the heavy trade of metal, cement, or plastic.”
So — if all that’s true, why is MAN, like BMW, persevering with to spend money on hydrogen-powered automobile applications? “Solely to check our speculation,” says Vlaskamp (emphasis mine). “We might use hydrogen for transportation in 2035, however provided that there may be sufficient inexperienced hydrogen on the proper worth and the required infrastructure is in place.”
To make sure it has sufficient H, BMW will set up a mile-long community of underground pipes, with six decentralized H filling stations, between now and Q1 of 2026. “As soon as the conversion is accomplished, our annual hydrogen consumption might be round 150 tonnes,” says Radtke.
Right here’s hoping BMW can get a greater deal than 14 euros for soiled gas by then.
SOURCE | IMAGES: BMW.
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