Recap Dialog Forum Progress Mobility from October 20, 2021 on the subject of hydrogen

At the Mobility Progress Dialogue Forum on October 20, 2021, we approached the subject of hydrogen. As early as 1874, Jules Verne demonstrated his visionary abilities by granting water the power to be a “coal killer”. Recently, the topic has celebrated happy beginnings, motivated by humanity's task to decarbonise.

The discussion quickly showed that mobility is not the primary source of demand for the hydrogen economy. From the current point of view, hydrogen is more likely to act as the “savior” of many industrial processes. In particular, CO2 intensive processes such as steel smelting and cement production were mentioned. But of course hydrogen is also suitable for mobility when the hydrogen economy gets going and becomes available for vehicles via the production of H2, storage, transport and tank capacity.

The availability of green electricity turned out to be the central focus of the discussion, because the production of green hydrogen goes hand in hand with a large demand for green electricity. A participant from a large engineering service provider in Bietigheim comes to the conclusion that mobility based on hydrogen will only be possible through the import of hydrogen.

Wolfgang Siebenpfeiffer emphatically asks whether, in view of the poorer efficiency of the fuel cell process compared to battery storage, one can really seriously believe that the fuel cell vehicle can stand up to the comparison with the purely battery-electric vehicle.

For Ulrich Schiefer, it is more a question of timing and he asks whether in the end it could be that we in Europe tackled electromobility 10 years too late and perhaps rely on fuel cell vehicles 10 years too early. The relevance of the use of hydrogen in mobility was not fundamentally questioned.

The direct combustion of hydrogen in the internal combustion engine is seen as an interesting transition technology. On the other hand, converting hydrogen into electricity in fuel cells for use in electrically powered cars will probably be the leading technology in the future.

Doubts have been raised as to whether the technology will prevail equally across the board from small cars to 38 ton trucks. A participant from the fuel cell area of ​​an OEM emphasized the importance of the technology especially for heavy vehicles, commercial vehicles and buses. Lush, heavy battery systems represent sufficient threat potential that ensures that Daimler and its competitors invest in the technology.

Ulrich Schiefer draws a conciliatory conclusion in that, from his point of view, the battery-electric vehicle is also the pioneer for the fuel cell car. Because both drive variants are vehicles driven by electric motors, it is an important prerequisite for fuel cells that manufacturers bring more and more electric motor-driven vehicle platforms onto the road.

At this point we would like to draw your attention to the next Dialog Forum on Mobility Progress on November 17, 2021 at 6:00 p.m.

We want to talk about lightweight construction in our 3rd event. This has recently been seriously questioned by the loss of relevance in the context of the recuperating electric car, which is often cited in the media. Is that really the case, or is this statement an unthinkable error?

We want to discuss this and more, and thus above all contribute to planning security for all players active in the industry. You will find the link to register from November 8th, 2021 on the AtTrack website www.attrack.de.