From diesel to sustainable: #2
Hydrogen will play an important role in achieving the goals. For applications with hydrogen, in addition to shipping and aviation, we in the Netherlands are focusing mainly on heavy road transport applications; vehicles that require a lot of energy for long periods of time. This is necessary in addition to battery-electric driving, due in part to the overloading of the electricity grid and the high cost of reinforcing the electricity grid to make large-scale battery-electric driving possible. Most hydrogen-powered vehicles are similar in technology to battery-powered vehicles. The main difference is that the energy is stored in hydrogen tanks and not in batteries. Electricity is produced by the fuel cell. Here hydrogen and oxygen from the air react with each other. Hydrogen is especially crucial for making heavy transport and long-distance transportation more sustainable. Heavy transportation consumes a lot of energy and storing enough energy in batteries is still a challenge.
Heavy duty hydrogen transport seems to be a good alternative to diesel and necessary alongside electric transport initiatives. What is going on and how is acceleration coming? Hydrogen Utrecht organized a meeting "Hydrogen for heavy transport" on Nov. 23. Truck manufacturers and transporters sat down together to discuss problems and opportunities. Customers, such as retailers and defense, knowledge institutes and governments were also present. A meeting with a lot of curiosity, technical solutions and especially many questions about how to accelerate.