Something different for you all in this edition of ‘Tech Safe Transport’: A podcast.
Dr Jeff Allan has worked on the development of hydrogen vehicles since 2005. In the last three years he was been involved in designing, building and testing hydrogen trains. In this podcast Jeff talks about:
The fundamental and growing efficiency advantage of batteries over hydrogen fuel cells.
How in his view the time has now passed for any significant use of hydrogen fuel cells in cars.
Use of hydrogen for buses and trucks.
Niche applications in rail.
Safety topics for railway use.
Compact hydrogen storage using metal hydrides.
Use of hydrogen in aviation and shipping.
Ultimately Jeff concludes that as battery technology is advancing so rapidly, hydrogen fuel cells will be a transitory technology, likely to be used in a targeted way for the next 10 to 30 years. As well as being inherently less efficient, use of hydrogen as part of a decarbonisation strategy creates the a need to consume energy to create ‘green hydrogen’. In Jeff’s view this will significantly limit widespread use.
All in all, this is a fascinating take on an important topic from a very experienced engineer: Please take a listen…
In the podcast Jeff mentions the following video, which compares the impact of ignition of a fuel leak in a hydrogen car as compatred to a petrol car:
Feedback
The views expressed in this podcast are Jeff’s and mine. They are only opinions, and aren’t necessarily fixed ones. Please do feed back your thoughts in the comments, on linkedin or on Twitter. Posts are biweekly for 2022; the second year of ‘Tech Safe Transport’. To make sure you don’t miss any of them please subscribe below:
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Thanks for listening
If you’re interested in any advice, guidance or collaboration on any of the topics raised please feel free to drop me an e-mail on george.bearfield@ntlworld.com: My particular area of professional and research interest is practical risk and assurance of new technology. I’m always keen to engage on interesting projects in this area.
Hydrogen: What is its Future in Transport?