Hydrogen as an alternative for zero-emissiontransport

A technical R&D and innovation webinar was held on September 14th entitled “Hydrogen as an alternative for zero-emission road transport” organised by SERNAUTO and the Spanish Automotive and Mobility Technology Platform (M2F), with the collaboration of the TECNALIA technology centre. 

Cecilia Medina, Head of R&D and innovation at SERNAUTO was in charge of introducing the event; Pablo Martínez, Director of the Automotive Business Unit at TECNALIA made his presentation to the more than 80 attendees. 

During his talk, Pablo Martínez explained what a fuel cell electric vehicle is, what components are needed to manufacture it and what the keys for development and implementation are. He also identified the external factors that have a bearing on both manufacturing and development. 

Key points for correctly implementing fuel cell vehicles in Spain

According to this expert, FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) technology is highly dependent on factors such as green generation, distribution and part replacement. To develop this type of propulsion, it is necessary to take the cost of manufacturing components into account, which is directly linked to the sales volume. 

With regard to external factors for generating H₂, it is necessary to take into consideration not only the fuel reforming or electrolysis processes, but also the place where it is generated: that it is centralised and distributed near consumers. 

Europe has the largest roll-out of hydrogen stations; n total more than 200 hydrogen refuelling stations (HRFS) are already being installed. However, more deployment schemes are needed to make hydrogen cars, vans and trucks accessible to the general public. 

M2F is working on a collaborative tractor project of common interest (PTCIC Hidrógeno) to develop a scalable hydrogen cell and fuel generation/storage module in a clean and sustainable way.

This initiative is a commitment to a transformation process to develop the entire hydrogen-related value chain applied to electric mobility, from the fuel cell to the rest of the components required, also taking the variant of synthetic fuels through oxy-fuel combustion into account. At the same time, the involvement of the technological model is being analysed in order to bring the use of hydrogen to the tourism segment. 

Further information

• Contact our expert at industria@tecnalia.com
• Source: Sernauto press room