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Title: Life-cycle implications of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle technology for medium- and heavy-duty trucks

Journal Article · · Journal of Power Sources
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Dept. of Energy, Washington, D.C. (United States). Fuel Cell Technologies Office
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This study provides a comprehensive and up-to-date life-cycle comparison of hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks (FCETs) and their conventional diesel counterparts in terms of energy use and air emissions, based on the ensemble of well-established methods, high-fidelity vehicle dynamic simulations, and real-world vehicle test data. For the centralized steam methane reforming (SMR) pathway, hydrogen FCETs reduce life-cycle or well-to-wheel (WTW) petroleum energy use by more than 98% compared to their diesel counterparts. The reduction in WTW air emissions for gaseous hydrogen (G.H2) FCETs ranges from 20 to 45% for greenhouse gases, 37-65% for VOC, 49-77% for CO, 62-83% for NOx, 19-43% for PM10, and 27-44% for PM2.5, depending on vehicle weight classes and truck types. With the current U.S. average electricity generation mix, FCETs tend to create more WTW SOx emissions than their diesel counterparts, mainly because of the upstream emissions related to electricity use for hydrogen compression/liquefaction. Compared to G.H2, liquid hydrogen (L.H2) FCETs generally provide smaller WTW emissions reductions. For both G.H2 and L.H2 pathways for FCETs, because of electricity consumption for compression and liquefaction, spatio-temporal variations of electricity generation can affect the WTW results. In conclusion, FCETs retain the WTW emission reduction benefits, even when considering aggressive diesel engine efficiency improvement.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1455116
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1496314
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5400-71762
Journal Information:
Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 393, Issue C; ISSN 0378-7753
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 89 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World journal October 2019

Figures / Tables (8)

Table 1(p. 8)table Table 1
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Figure 2(p. 12)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 15)figure Figure 3
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Figure 5(p. 17)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 19)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 23)figure Figure 7

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Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
medium- and heavy-duty trucks
hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle
zero emission vehicle
life-cycle analysis
fuel economy
air emissions