Shortage of hydrogen fuel takes its toll on public opinion of H2 vehicles
December 1, 2023The recent shortages in South Korea have some consumers thinking twice before making a purchase.
A recent rash of hydrogen fuel shortages in South Korea has many people in the country thinking again before buying a zero-emission vehicle powered by H2.
South Korea is one of the countries with the highest adoption levels of these zero-emission vehicles.
The recent hydrogen fuel shortage was the result of a malfunction at Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin factory where H2 is produced for vehicle fueling. The South Chungcheong Province plant experienced an issue with its interior charging station midway through this month. As a result, some areas of the country have faced challenges in meeting the demand for H2. Therefore, H2 fuel cell vehicle owners were stuck in lines for hours to be able to refuel.
This was not the first time drivers in the country found it difficult to refuel their zero carbon emission vehicles. Earlier in November, buses and passenger cars powered by H2 experienced issues with their engines after having fueled up at a Chungju station in North Chungcheong Province. The issue was determined to be impurities within the H2 supply at the station.
In August 2022, a spike in oil prices led to a dive in H2 production, leading to caps on H2 purchases of 1 kilogram per driver per station.
These hydrogen fuel supply problems are causing drivers to become increasingly skeptical.
As the number of issues regarding H2 availability has continued to climb, some drivers are becoming hesitant to switch from their fossil fuel-powered vehicles to ones using H2 instead.
“The government’s rapidly changing roadmap for the hydrogen economy has caused confusion, delaying the private sector’s investments,” read a recent statement posted at a forum by Kim Jae-kyung, a research fellow from the Korea Energy Economics Institute.
Meeting goals
The former Moon Jae-in administration initially established the strategy for an H2 economy in the country, with the intention of selling 2.9 million hydrogen fuel vehicles within the country by 2040 and building a minimum of 1,200 fueling stations. Following that plan, there were 893 H2 vehicles sold in 2018, and this year, there had already been 33,796 sold by October.
The current Yoon Suk Yeol administration adjusted the plan, reducing the target to 30,000 H2-powered buses and trucks by 2030 and 70 fueling stations by that year.
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This shortage is mis-information! Period.
Who doesn’t want fuel competition? Period
Get with the reality!
RRDahl
In the UK there are almost no hydrogen filling stations for the general public or private companies, except for dedicated stations for a few bus operators. This is due to the lack of demand for fuel cell hydrogen which in turn is holding up the transition from internal combustion power to hydrogen for heavy vehicles, a classic chicken and egg scenario. The UK Government needs to de-risk the installation of public hydrogen filling stations with appropriate grants, and change legislation to allow them to be installed on the forecourts of existing filling stations. The hydrogen needs to be produced locally from off grid electricity to avoid the very high cost of grid power.
In California the price is $36.00 kg. Why are we having this challenge when many in the industry has been working hard to develop H2 industry? Is it politics? Oil companies? Physics? Academics? Fundamental economy? What can it be done to improve?
Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles and equipment are amazingly efficient, the most environmentally favorable of all. For mass adoption of hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen must be readily available and much less expensive. The water-glass shift process used by the petroleum industry to generate, by far, the largest amount of hydrogen gas on earth is very efficient and cost effective, but produces an impure hydrogen product only suitable for hydrocarbon refining, and the production of a few products like ammonia, and urea. Unfortunately, hydrogen for fuel cells must be of exceptionally high purity to prevent damage to the expensive palladium catalyst used to convert H2 into electricity. A new invention, called the SULFUR MAGNET, can convert low-grade hydrogen into a product cleaner than the cleanest hydrogen currently in use for H2 fuel cells; so clean, in fact, that it could easily impact the ROI of ownership of H2 fuel cells by amplifying their lifetime and efficiency.
Clean Energy development subsidies seem to be focused on requirement for “rare earth” and other exotic materials. Seems to be money motivated – ie political. Is there no argument for the development of Hydrogen to be relatively simply used in internal combustion engines – to replace “fossil fuel” ?? .
Oil and natural gas will not be available worldwide during this century for many nations! Please read my past comments in Hydrogen Fuel News articles regarding technologies that are and will be used in the future to make hydrogen available worldwide.