Heavy mobility must embrace hydrogen for a net-zero transition

At the occasion of the recent Movin’On Summit, BNP Paribas led a working session with experts and members of the Movin’On ecosystem to discuss how to scale up solutions for heavy mobility to enable the hydrogen transition.

A recurring conversation at Movin’On 2021 proclaimed that alternative energy sources need to be prioritised going forward, and that ingenuity, policy and investment in infrastructure were going to be the keys to a decarbonised future.

For example: the idea of electric vehicles (EVs) isn’t enough; EVs need to have infrastructure built around them to ensure simple and effective charging, and so the grid as a whole can function more efficiently and sustainably.

It is also important to note that the solutions that exist to decarbonise everyday cars, i.e. EVs, doesn’t necessarily work for larger vehicles. As aerospace and train transit modes are embracing hydrogen, it is worth analysing similar solutions for trucks, buses and the like.

The heavy mobility sector will need to make some dramatic changes in the years ahead to meet our decarbonisation and net-zero ambitions. Namely, it will have to invest in hydrogen-based energy solutions. If so, how, when and what has to happen systematically and politically before that can happen in a real, meaningful way?

An underutilised asset

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but with regards to its application to get to net-zero, it has been underutilised. This working session explored how hydrogen-based solutions could be created and implemented in mobility, what the obstacles are and they can be overcome.                             

Hydrogen needs to be viewed as a tool to achieve net-zero because it will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Decarbonisation as a concept is evident, but as part of the process, there needs to be an entire infrastructure created to achieve it. How and when it is created determines its end-uses. Large scale renewables integration ensures a cleaner and more sustainable end-product; a hydrogen-based energy system decarbonises major sectors like transportation and industrial energy use. The entire supply chain between energy production and consumption is itself decarbonised.

The importance of the political factor

To date, 30 countries have announced a hydrogen strategy, and though that’s good, the key issues preventing widespread adoption are located in scalability and economic viability. Hydrogen as a solution for the heavy mobility sector is too expensive, and the ecosystem to support such a solution does not exist yet.

As with other conversations revolving around decarbonisation, political will is a vector. A carbon tax that incentivises hydrogen energy over diesel, and a discussion of the public and private sector investments that will make our collective dreams a reality, but can such a thing happen in a way (and fast enough) to make the kinds of change we want (and need) to see?

Reducing the cost difference between hydrogen and diesel, a viable solution?

If hydrogen is going to become competitive, it has to be less expensive: how can we create that kind of competitiveness, in terms of capacity and capability? A hydrogen transition in this sector would require tremendous infrastructure, but also significant energy production to even get us there. One of the solutions discussed during the session was the creation of a Europe-wide carbon tax to encourage the industry to make the shift.

The main conclusions of the session were:

• Hydrogen is currently cost prohibitive, and if this is to change, we have to solve the problems around regulation and solving this problem at scale.
• An ecosystem has to exist; investments in infrastructure and systems need to be made.
• We need to figure out how we’re going to generate enough energy to produce the hydrogen energy, and then we need to fine-tune that.
• The technology is pretty much there, but the will and the commitment aren’t.