Fuel Cells Need New Infrastructure
Fueling, Maintenance and Training Systems Will Be Required
Technical work on fuel cells for electric vehicles is on going. Before they can be commercially viable there must be an adequate support infrastructure in place.
While many organizations are working on the technical side of fuel cell development, far fewer people are looking at the other problem with switching to a hydrogen powered transportation fleet; the lack of infrastructure to support those vehicles. If that support infrastructure is not adequately in place, consumers are not going to buy fuel cell powered vehicles.
Defining Infrastructure Requirements
The infrastructure supporting the internal combustion engine (ICE) has taken decades to be built up to its current level of efficiency; anyone intending to replace the ICE economy must have a plan to replace the ICE infrastructure with one supporting the new technology. Refineries, gas stations, repair shops and parts stores are all part of that ICE infrastructure.
The infrastructure for any new energy system will have to successfully deal with some very basic requirements. First there has to be a fueling system that will provide the fuel for those vehicles. Secondly there will have to be provisions made for maintaining the energy system. Finally, there will have to be a training system established to ensure that consumers are knowledgeable of the maintenance and support requirements for the new power system.
Varied Fueling Systems for Fuel Cells
There are a wide variety of fuel cell types under development; each with a different type of fuel. None of them are clearly superior, so it is likely that the first generation of these vehicles will require a variety of fuels. This will complicate the refueling systems until the market place selects a single fuel cell type.
Pure hydrogen fuel cells will require high pressure delivery of hydrogen gas (Wald, Scientific American, 2004). Fuel cells using various types of organic liquids to provide the hydrogen will require multiple types of liquid fuels to be available. Borohydride fuel cells will require a caustic-borohydride-water solution as a fuel and have the added complexity of having to provide for recycling spent fuel (Wakefield, Scientific American, 2002).
Maintenance System Requirements for Fuel Cells
Each type of fuel cell will require specially trained technicians for maintenance support. Initially these technicians will only be available through the dealers. Fuel cell suppliers will be responsible for training and certifying the maintenance technicians. Fleet operators would either have to contract for maintenance support or send current employees to training provided by manufacturers.
An alternative model would be for the fuel cells to be treated as black boxes that are replaced with new units. The bad units would then be sent back to the factory for repair and refurbishment. In the short term this would ease the training requirements for technicians at dealerships and fleet operations.
Training for Owners and First Responders
There will also be a significant amount of training required for the new owners. Owners are going to require more than the 5 minute familiarization they now get when buying a new car. They are going to have to learn about refueling and warm-up requirements and basic troubleshooting techniques.
First responders are also going to require a certain amount of training in how to deal with accidents involving these vehicles with exotic fuels; a hydrogen leak or ethanol spill will have more potential for explosions than even Hollywood car wrecks. Police and fire personnel will need to know how to identify varying types of fuel cell vehicles and the potential hazards associated with each type.
Conclusion
Fuel cells may be the future for powering personal transportation, but more than just technical issues need to be worked out before the switch to the hydrogen economy can begin in earnest. How to solve the chicken or egg question (build vehicles or infrastructure first) for this new technology may be harder to solve than getting fuel cells to work.
