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Hydrogen Transport

Martin West, IEng MIMechE

TfL Engineering
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Transport for London
We are the integrated transport authority for London

• Buses
• London underground
• DLR
• London Overground
• TfL Rail
• London Trams
• London’s core road network
• River
• Victoria Coach Station
• Walking and cycling network
• Taxi and private hire
• Dial-a-ride
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Transport for London

In 2019, an average of 27.0 million trips per day were made to, from or within London

Active, efficient and sustainable mode share for 2019 was estimated to be 63.2 per cent

Figure 1 Est im at ed average daily t rips by m ain m o de, 7-day week, 2000-2019.
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Cycle Walk Public t ransport Privat e t ransport

25
Trip s p e r d ay (m illio n s)

20

15
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Transport for London

Figure 2.14 Per-pe rson t rip rat e per day by m ode, LTDS annual
ave rage , 2005/06- 2019/20.
1.0
Underground/DLR Bus/t ram Nat ional Rail
Car driver Car passenger Cycle
Walk Mot orcycle Taxi/ot her

0.8

Trip s p e r p e rso n p e r d ay
0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
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The London Bus

Network
• Buses operate 24 hours per day, 7 days a
week

• 6.5 million journeys per week day

• 660 routes

• 19,500 bus stops

• 9,000 buses

• Routes tender on a 7 yearly cycle

• Buses & garages owned and operated by

private companies
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10% of London’s NOx emissions are from TfL buses

2021 ULEZ

2019 ULEZ

EU Limit
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Environmental impact of bus fleet

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TfL’s emissions

1,000,000
900,000
Carbon emissions (thousands of tonnes

800,000
TfL Corporate
700,000
600,000
Operational buildings
CO2e)

500,000 and infrastructure

400,000
Underground and rail
300,000 traction energy
200,000
100,000 TfL Buses
0
2019/20
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Current fleet

TfL Bus Fleet Composition (March 2021)

22
485

3884 4697

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000

Hydrogen Electric Hybrid Diesel

• As of August 2021:
• A further 50 Electric and 20 Hydrogen Vehicles came into service
• 400 Zero Emission Vehicles are on order
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Hybrid buses
• Hybrids were the most cost effective
vehicle for CO2 reduction

• 30% CO2 saving demonstrated over

London test cycle compared to non-hybrid
diesel vehicles

• Currently 4,700 hybrid buses in the fleet,

including 1,000 New Routemaster buses
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Zero Emission Challenge

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

% of TfL
bus routes
Average daily Average daily
vehicle mileage vehicle mileage
< 260km > 260km

For 80% of routes, the For “High Mileage Routes”, there

cheapest and most energy are two options:
efficient zero emission option 1) Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses
is Overnight Charging of 2) “Opportunity Charging” of
Battery Electric Buses Battery Electric Buses
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Battery Electric

• Lithium Ion Iron Phosphate

• 250km range at new
• 380kWh battery
• 19.5T @ 85 passengers
• Winter heating can reduce range by up to 40%
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Opportunity charging
• Trialled induction charged diesel electric hybrids in 2016,
100Kw
• Developing a larger scale trial using high power
pantograph charging Garage
• Big battery, small charger
• Small battery, high power charging
End
stand

Start
stand
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Hydrogen Buses
•TfL was one of the first cities in the world to demonstrate fuel cell
buses in 2004
•Operated 8 Wrights fuel cells buses on route RV1 between 2010 –
2020

• 27 kg of onboard gaseous hydrogen storage @ 350bar • Ballard HD7 85kW

• Consumption rate 6.5kg/100km • 27.4 kWh battery
• Range 370km • 85 passengers
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Hydrogen buses – how do they work?
• Hydrogen is stored at 35MPa in 6 carbon fibre wrapped class III
tanks.

• Pressure is regulated down to 20MPa, and fed to the fuel cell

where it is forced through a catalyst. H2 molecules react with
platinum catalyst, and the electrons are conducted through the
anode via an external circuit.

• Oxygen is forced through the catalyst on cathode side, the

negative charge attracts the two H+ ions through the membrane,
where they combine with an oxygen atom and two of the
electrons from the external circuit to form a water molecule
(H2O)

• Multiple fuel cells are combined together to form a 85kW stack

• The module is integrated into a hybrid drivetrain configuration,

either using battery or ultracapacitor energy storage
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Hydrogen refuelling station
 Until recently, reliable and affordable bulk hydrogen
was limited to using fossil fuel, SMR.

 Increases in global green energy generation will enable

large scale green hydrogen production projects.

 Scale is critical in achieving cost reductions

 TfL has built the UK’s largest and fastest filling bus hydrogen station. 1,500kg storage, filling a
bus approx. 5 minutes.

 Hydrogen to be produced using electrolysis from off-shore wind, delivered to site via tube
trailer.

 Multiple station design solutions possible depending on users needs. Liquid or gaseous storage,
onsite production or delivered, high speed dispensing with cooling
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Hydrogen refuelling station
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Hydrogen pathways

Emerging pathways

• Turquoise hydrogen - methane pyrolysis to produce hydrogen and solid carbon

• Pink hydrogen - electrolysis powered by nuclear energy
• SMR using Bio-methane
• Chlor-alkali by-product
• Biomass gasification with CCS
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Grey, blue or green hydrogen
 Environmental impact of hydrogen varies considerably depending on source of
production & supply chain.

Well-to-wheel Environmental Cost Forecast by Powertrain

£9,000

£8,000
Hydrogen-Electric,
(DECC CO2 + Social Damage

£7,000 2011 - SMR, De-

Total Environmental Cost

livered
£6,000
Diesel-Electric
NOx & PM

£5,000 Hybrid - Euro 6

£4,000 Battery-Electric -
2019, Depot Charg-
£3,000
ing
£2,000
Hydrogen Electric -
£1,000 2019, Electrolysis,
Delievered
£0
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
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UK Hydrogen Strategy
UK hydrogen strategy released August 2021

5GW low carbon production capacity by 2030

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Hydrogen bus cost

To achieve commercialisation, large scale production is critical
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Hydrogen bus cost

Source: Path to hydrogen competitiveness: A cost Source: UK Hydrogen strategy

perspective
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UK Hydrogen Strategy
Hydrogen applications

Trucks, ambulances, heavy duty cycles vehicles

Ships

Trains

Aviation

Cars

Steel

Heating for homes

Stationary power
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Hydrogen Industry Companies
World Hydrogen Council formed 2017

UK Companies
Ceres Power
ITM Power
AFC Energy
Luxfer
BOC
Logan
Arcola
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Project JIVE will demonstrate 300 fuel cell buses
across 20 cities in Europe
Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe

Benelux Cluster
(50 FC buses)
Objectives
Deploy large fleets of FC buses and France Cluster
associated refuelling infrastructure (15 FC buses)
Achieve a maximum price of €625k
for a standard fuel cell bus (JIVE 2) Germany / Italy
Cluster
Validate large scale fleets in (88 FC buses)
operation
Northern / Eastern
Enable new entrants to trial the
Europe Cluster
technology (50 FC buses)
Demonstrate routes to low cost
renewable H2 UK Cluster
(88 FC buses)
Stimulate further large scale uptake
88 88
Total = 291 new FC
JIVE
50100 50 buses for Europe
JIVE 2
50 15
0
Benelux France Germany / Italy N. / E. Europe UK
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Hydrogen Refuelling Station

Large scale projects

• The Tees Valley hydrogen hub

• Switzerland's trucks – 1,600 by 2025

• German fuelling stations – nearly 100 HRS

operational

• 10,000 FC cars in California

• 4GW Saudi green hydrogen production project,

650T per day

• 3,600 H2 buses in China

• UK multiple H2 rail demonstration project. 62%

UK lines not electrified
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Summary
• Battery electric is simple and most affordable at smaller scale, duty cycle can met like-for-like.

• Hydrogen vehicles are beginning to become affordable, deploying infrastructure with low
hydrogen demand is now the main obstacle, scale is vital.

Thank you
Martin West