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World Sustainable Energy Days 2019

Young Energy Researchers Conference
Wels/Austria, 27 February-1 March 2019

Analysis of hydrogen fuel cell and battery efficiency

Aristeidis Tsakiris
Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2)
UNEP DTU Partnership
UN City
Marmorvej 51, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
E-mail: [email protected], web: http://www.energyefficiencycentre.org

Keywords: Energy efficiency, electric vehicles, hydrogen, fuel cell, energy density, Lithium Ion

Introduction
The electric sector is going under a major transformation to foster the ability to absorb and
distribute efficiently the increasing number of renewable capacity connected to the grid. This means
that renewable electrification can assist other sectors to decarbonise fast and on a large scale. The
share of electric motors systems is projected to grow from the current 9% (Melroy et al., 2018) to
around 30% (Waide & Brunner, 2011) of energy end-use. Those figures are significantly affecting the
motor system numbers which are implicated into one of the two major decarbonisation options
involving electrification, electric vehicles (EVs).

The transition towards a world free of carbon emissions will determine the future of this generation.
The scale required for the energy transition is massive and affects every sector of the economy.
Except electricity, hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources might be an alternative if cost
effective and efficient production technologies can be developed.

As the world accelerating its effort to reduce – and even eliminate – the use of fossil fuels from the
energy sector, electric vehicles have seen an incredible development over the last 5 years. The first 8
months of 2018, more than 1 million electric vehicles were sold around the world; while 2017 it took
11 months to reach that threshold (Insideevs, 2018). Despite there are many available brands, there
are only two choices when it comes to powering electric vehicles: fuel cells or batteries. Both
hydrogen and electricity for batteries can be produced from renewable sources. Japan has
announces its intention to support and hydrogen and pledged to introduce 160 hydrogen stations
and 40,000 fuel-cell vehicles by March 2021 (Tajitsu & Tsukimori, 2018). At first sight, hydrogen has
all the benefits to replace fossil fuels. Compressed hydrogen energy per unit mass of nearly 40,000
Wh/Kg (Hydrogen Fuel Cell Engines MODULE 1: HYDROGEN PROPERTIES CONTENTS, 2001). Lithium
ion batteries are able of achieving of 260 Wh/Kg, which is 151 energy per kg for hydrogen. Because
of its energy density and its lightweight, hydrogen is being able to provide extended range without
adding significant weight, which is a significant barrier of incorporating into aviation industry.

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Hydrogen and battery efficiency comparison

Li-Ion
Battery EV

Fuel Cell
EV

Figure 1: Calculated weight of fuel cell electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles as a function of the vehicle range.
(Thomas, 2009)

Each kilogram of battery weight to increase range requires extra structural weight, higher torque
motor, heavier brakes, and in turn more batteries to carry the extra mass. The weight compounding
limits the vehicle range until a new improvement in the battery development improves the energy
density per Kg. For hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the weight compounding in not an issue. In addition,
refuelling of the vehicle takes much less time with hydrogen, compared with recharging.

Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Efficiency

Hydrogen requires more energy to produce and it usually found in water, hydrocarbons (such as
methane) and other organic material. The biggest challenge which prevents from being used as an
energy storage mechanism comes from being able to efficiently extracted from the previous
mentioned compounds. One process to extra the hydrogen comes from a method called “steam-
methane reforming reaction 1”. Despite it is the most common method for industrial production of
hydrogen, it requires a lot of energy for heat, which results to high inefficiency.

Another method to produce hydrogen is “electrolysis”. While the energy that requires for that
process can be generated by renewables sources, it requires more energy input than steam
reforming and it ends up of losing 30% of energy from the original energy input from the
renewables (Arnold, 2017). A slightly more efficient method of producing hydrogen is “Proton
Exchange Membrane” (PEM) electrolysis with a loss of only 18% (S Badwal S Giddey F T Ciacchi,
2006).

Additional, there is more energy loss from the transport and storage of the produced hydrogen.
Hydrogen has low density in gas and liquid format, so to achieve sufficient energy density we have to
increase its actual density. The most efficient method is to compress the hydrogen to 680 atm but
that requires about 13% of the total energy content of the hydrogen itself (Bossel & Eliasson, 2009).

1
Steam reforming is a method for producing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or other useful products from hydrocarbon fuels such as
natural gas. This is achieved in a processing device called a reformer, which reacts steam at high temperature with the fossil fuel.

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Alternatively, the hydrogen can be liquefied cryogenically but with an efficient loss of 40% (Makridis,
n.d.).

After the production and storage of hydrogen, a viable hydrogen infrastructure requires that
hydrogen can be delivered from the origin of production to the end point of use. The production site
of the hydrogen can have a significant impact on the cost and the delivery. A centrally located
facility, capable of producing large amounts of hydrogen, can produce in lower prices but it cost
more to deliver the hydrogen because the end point of use is far away. A distributed production
facility can produce hydrogen on the place of demand with low delivery cost. However, the cost to
produce is higher because the production volume is less. Due to the current and tested
infrastructure of delivering energy through pipes, we have to assume that the hydrogen would be
transferred by truck and pipelines where the energy losses can range from 10% to 40% (Interstate
Natural Gas Association of America, 2010).

Another reason why efficiency is reduced by using hydrogen is the tank-to-wheel conversation
efficiency. For hydrogen fuel vehicles, the hydrogen in the tank must be reconverted into electric
power, which is done through fuel cell. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the fuel cell
technology has the potential of achieving 60% of efficiency, with most of the rest of the energy lost
as heat (U.S. Department of Energy, 2011). However, in order to provide more clarity on this figure,
this paper will use 47% as the efficiency of the PEM fuel cell (Pellow, Emmott, Barnhart, & Benson,
2015).

Battery Efficiency

Lithium Ion batteries have seen extensive development for the last 20 years in response for the
increase in electric vehicle sales. The energy density of Lithium Ion batteries has nearly doubled
between the periods of the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s (Thangavelu & Chau, 2013).

Figure 2: Improvements in Lithium-Ion battery technology has allowed it to see substantial improvements in energy density.

In the case that the energy used to recharge batteries comes from renewable sources, we have to
consider the transmission losses to the grid. Using the EU for transmission and distribution losses,
the average value is 6% (OECD/IEA, 2014). In addition, the charging infrastructure has an efficiency
loss of only 1% (M., 2014).

UNEP DTU Partnership │ Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency │ Marmorvej 51 │ 2100 Copenhagen Ø │ Denmark
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Like hydrogen fuel cell,

batteries have inefficiencies
and losses. The grid provides
AC power while the batteries
store the power in DC. For the
conversion, there is a need of
a charger with a peak
efficiency of 95% (Guépratte,
Jeannin, Frey, & Stephan,
2009).In addition, due to the
fact that most of the electric
vehicles are using AC motors,
an inverter is needed. The
peak efficiency of a high
quality inverter can be close to
95% (Fedkin & Dutton, n.d.).
Finally, Lithium Ion batteries
can lose energy due to
leakages. An estimate for the
charging efficiency can be
close to 90% (Toman, Cipin,
Figure 3: Comparison of the efficiency of two types of power-trains
Cervinka, Vorel, & Prochazka,
2016).

According to the best-case scenario of having high efficiency rates across the whole procedure,
battery electric vehicles provide the most efficient solution to power a vehicle. So, despite the fact
that the fuel cell vehicle might be able to go further with full tank of hydrogen compared to a battery
powered, the cost that is needed to fully charge the tank is higher due to energy losses and the
inefficiencies. The cost per kilometre is a little more than 3 times greater for hydrogen.

Additional costs will affect further the price per kilometre like the cost of the construction of the
facility and the profit of the hydrogen station. At the moment, the above mentioned energy losses
and inefficiencies are driving the market where the majority of investment and research is forward
to battery electric vehicles.
Table 1: Average Electricity Price on EU is 0.20 € (“Electricity price statistics - Statistics Explained,” n.d.), Hydrogen
price/Km: 9.5 € (Kolb & Siegemund, 2017)

Tesla Model 3 (75kWh) Toyota Mirai

Price to fully charge or fill 15 € 47.5 €
Range (km) 499 502
Price/km 0.030 € 0.095 €

Market Analysis
On a survey contacted on 2017 found that, 62% (KPMG, 2017) of automotive executives believe
battery-powered vehicles will fail, with hydrogen offering the true breakthrough for electric
mobility. The executives argued that the development and installation of a brand new infrastructure
will take time and the recharging time it is required for the battery will be an obstacle to mass
acceptance of electric mobility.

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However, the market for the last 5 years has been driven by significant increase in the sales of plug-
in sales due to its significant overall efficiency and incentives by the governments. The worldwide
plug-in vehicles sales are increasing with an average of 50% per year (Table 2) while the sales of
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from 2013 until end of 2017 were 6,364 (Research and Markets, 2018).
Table 2: Plug-in sales growth compared to previous year.

2015 2016 2017 2018 (November)

Worldwide 71.73% 41.29% 57.83% 39.67%
Europe 94.54% 15.10% 39.93% 15.27%
USA -5.24% 36.49% 25.57% 56.57%

50 5.00%
THOUSANDS

45
40 4.00%
35
30 3.00%
25
20 2.00%
15
10 1.00%
5
0 0.00%
Jul-14

Jul-15

Jul-16

Jul-17

Jul-18
Apr-14

Apr-15

Apr-16

Apr-17

Apr-18
Jan-14

Jan-15

Jan-16

Jan-17

Jan-18
Oct-14

Oct-15

Oct-16

Oct-17

Oct-18
Europe PlugIn share (Europe)

Figure 4: Europe Plug-In Vehicle Sales and its market share.

40 5.00%
THOUSANDS

35
4.00%
30

25 3.00%
20

15 2.00%

10
1.00%
5

0 0.00%
Jul-14

Jul-15

Jul-16

Jul-17

Jul-18
Apr-14

Apr-15

Apr-16

Apr-17

Apr-18
Jan-14

Jan-15

Jan-16

Jan-17

Jan-18
Oct-14

Oct-15

Oct-16

Oct-17

Oct-18

USA PlugIn share (USA)

Figure 5: USA Plug-In Vehicle Sales its market share.

UNEP DTU Partnership │ Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency │ Marmorvej 51 │ 2100 Copenhagen Ø │ Denmark
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Conclusion
Passenger cars driven by electric motors (EVs) have higher well-to-wheel efficiency than cars with an
internal combustion engine (ICE) powered by fossil fuels. Concerns about battery capacity and range
provide a technological incentive to further increase energy efficiency. The same is true for electric
buses and trucks. However, EV motor efficiency depends on the load profile and system boundaries,
which complicates how this is evaluated.

There is a potential for hydrogen fuel cells to successfully implemented to long-haul lorries, train,
and ambulances that would benefit from longer driving ranges and the development of
infrastructure could be easily deployed in order to fuel up to their bases. Nevertheless, based on the
current methods of producing, storing and converting hydrogen to electricity, the inefficiencies
would limit the increase of share to the vehicle market.

The electric vehicle sales growth will continue with a greater pace as long as the battery cost is
declining and the energy density is being improving. Significant innovations in battery chemistry will
be required to maintain the growth and supply challenges with cobalt must be solved.

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UNEP DTU Partnership │ Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency │ Marmorvej 51 │ 2100 Copenhagen Ø │ Denmark
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UNEP DTU Partnership │ Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency │ Marmorvej 51 │ 2100 Copenhagen Ø │ Denmark