H2 Summit
Next up was an overview of the H2 Summit that had been hosted earlier in the week by the Fuels Institute and the Department of Energy. This review featured a panel discussion with Sunita Satyapal, DOE; Brad MacLoed, Hyundai; Catherine Dunwoody, CARB; and Jeff Morris, Alon, providing an overview of the previous meeting’s discussion on hydrogen fuel cell technology. The speakers are in order in the photo below, left to right, with John Eichberger, Fuels Institute executive director, moderating at the podium.
Perspectives on the technology varied from not a significant difference in emission reduction between hydrogen produced from natural gas and current hybrids, to the technology being a critical component in a zero-emissions future for much of the vehicle fleet as envisioned by current California legislators and regulators. Reducing the cost of the hydrogen fuel was seen as being important with technological approaches ranging from exotic low-pressure chemical generation to the utility of nuclear power supplying “zero emission” electricity for more conventional hydrogen production and compression. Today, fuel cell technology is seen as having significant competitive disadvantages that need to be overcome—such as fuel/vehicle/station infrastructure costs and limited station availability.
Hi Octane Fuels & Vehicles
One potential fuel of the future that was discussed is utilizing higher octane fuels, for example a 25% ethanol mixture at 97.4 RON, with engines especially designed to maximize efficiency with that fuel. This discussion was led by Tom Leone, Technical Expert, Ford Motor Company (at the podium in the photo below) and Bill Woebkenberg, Transport Fuels Technical & Regulatory Specialist, Aramco Research Center (seated).
A sticking point of the discussion centered on whether this new fuel would be a universal offering replacing the current range of gasolines on the market, or a next generation version of premium. If the fuel were to be universal, it would have to have backward compatibility with previous generations of automobiles and the existing fueling infrastructure. This might require the gradual phase-in approach to build in the backward compatibility of engines and fueling equipment before full adoption. It would have to have a price point comparable to “regular” today. The penalties with using the fuel would have to be minimal for the existing vehicle fleet while the enhancements should be sufficiently impressive to drive a faster conversion to engines that can maximize the new fuel.
Making this new fuel the next “premium” would minimize the issues relative to the existing fleet, but the fuel itself would likely come initially with a premium price point due to its lower volume and the benefits would have to be even more exceptional to drive a full consumer conversion to the new fuel. In the discussion performance was stated to not only include such metrics as power and efficiency, but, of course, environmental performance. To a great extent this potential technology and the others that were discussed would be driven more by greenhouse gas goals than by any other performance factor relative to consumer needs or wants, as conventional fossil fuels and engines offer both good performance and price outside of current GHG goals.
The Electric Option
The final session of the day, “The State of the Electric Grid and the Impact of Electric Vehicles,” featured speakers Scott Shepard, Research Analyst, Navigant Research (at the podium below); and Ben Wrightsman, Chief Operations Officer & Chief Engineer, Battery Innovation Center (seated).
It was noted that the Obama administration’s CAFE standards provide significant incentives for the deployment of electric vehicles by automakers. However, current adoption issues include:
- Cost
- Reliability and life expectancy
- Consumer and commercial education
- Standards, protocols and other integration issues between the solutions available on the market
The inflection point for an electric vehicle to move beyond the early adopter is seen at a 200 miles range and a cost of less than $35,000 for the vehicle. Research and development has led to significant advances in battery efficiency and that process will only continue, bringing such goals within reach likely in the near future.
