For all the attention given over to electric cars, a more sustainable approach would be to electrify mass transit and make it more accessible, affordable, and widespread. That’s a particularly tall order for railways, where diesel locomotives still command the field. That could soon change. The green hydrogen industry is gathering momentum, and it is opening up new opportunities to run diesel fuel off the rails.In terms of electrifying mass transit, buses have been the low hanging fruit.
However, hydrogen presents the converse of the biofuel problem. Hydrogen fuel cells are a tailpipe solution for local pollution issues, but the sticky fingers of the global fossil fuel supply chain are all over hydrogen. Almost all hydrogen on the market today is extracted from natural gas or gasified coal.
One factor that can come into play is the time it takes to stop at a battery charging or hydrogen fuel station. In past years, fuel cell advocates could contrast long EV battery charging times with fuel cells, which can be refilled with hydrogen in a matter of minutes.The heavy duty field still offers opportunities for competition, and that’s where the French firm Lhyfe comes in.
The hydrogen fuel stations are designed around a mobility model. The green hydrogen is produced on-site and stored in a mobile storage tank before undergoing further processing in a tank trailer, where the train will refuel.