Hydrogen, the future of the automobile in Quebec?

Frédéric Mercier

Thursday, October 5, 2017 15:42

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Thursday, October 5, 2017 15:42

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When it comes time to talk about the future in the automotive world, this is the electric car that takes up all the space.

However, more and more car manufacturers put emphasis on another alternative: hydrogen. Hyundai, Honda and Toyota are just a few examples.

Without denying the technologies, hybrid and electric, these manufacturers seem to believe that the future of the automobile also passes through the hydrogen.

At Toyota, for example, we took the bold decision to develop a hydrogen vehicle in even before the commercialization of the first fully-electric car. Because, at the risk of surprising you, Toyota still does not have a 100% electric car on its fleet.

The Mirai, a hydrogen-powered vehicle, is already available in some regions of the United States. In Quebec, lack of fuelling stations, the vehicle is not available. Same thing for the Honda Clarity and Hyundai Tucson VEGF.

Except that it could well change.

Operation seduction in Quebec

The representatives of several automobile manufacturers have recently met with some leaders of the government of Quebec in the hope of advancing the development of hydrogen in the Beautiful Province. The Prime minister, Philippe Couillard, and the Minister of Energy and natural Resources, Pierre Arcand, in particular a part of the discussions.

Read also: Philippe Couillard discusses hydrogen cars

Even if a hydrogen-driven vehicle emits no other issue that a few drops of water, the production of hydrogen, which serves in its operation is not always green. Even today, the majority is done by chemical extraction of fossil hydrocarbons.

However, it is also possible to obtain hydrogen by electrolysis, a process much cleaner, which boils down to sending a simple electric current in the water to isolate the hydrogen. “If the electricity is produced by a renewable source of energy [ … ] hydrogen that results will also be considered renewable,” says the U. S Department of Energy.

“Quebec could be the hydrogen that Alberta has been in the oil,” says Stephen Beatty, vice-president and secretary-general at Toyota Canada. With its large water resources, its production almost total energy via hydro and its geographical proximity to the North-eastern United States, Quebec could, in the eyes of Mr. Beatty, becoming a large producer and exporter of hydrogen.

Infrastructure problem

Despite the talks, the advent of the hydrogen car in Quebec still seems remote. Still no refuelling station has been put in place. Only four in the country, and they are all in British Columbia.

“Hydrogen has a delay of a few years on the electric car,” agrees Stephen Beatty. According to him, the development of a network of hydrogen will begin by the fleets of commercial vehicles. A project is already in place in the port of Los Angeles to try to replace the trucks at diesel trucks to hydrogen.

And then, with time, the increasing availability of charging stations will make possible the large-scale commercialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

“Our goal is to see a first refuelling station in Quebec as early as next year”, he explains, noting that California and Japan are already more advanced, with respectively a hundred stations.

Advantages

So, why push to the development of hydrogen instead of simply focusing on cars electric battery?

“Electric cars are logical, but mainly for urban travel and for shorter distances,” says Stephen Beatty. Their autonomy and the recharge time, according to him, make their adoption more difficult for the general public.

A recharge of hydrogen, by contrast, takes roughly the same time as a gas fill-up and allows a battery life in excess of 500 kilometers. Its use can also be associated with larger vehicles such as trucks or buses without too much damage to the autonomy, a key challenge for vehicles with batteries.

However, this is not the financial aspect that consumers will be charmed by the hydrogen. At least not for the moment.

In California, the cost of hydrogen is almost identical to that of gasoline. And as the technology is still recent, the vehicles are rather expensive. The Mirai, for example, is available starting from 57 US$ 500 in the United States.