Jm. Ogden et al., A comparison of hydrogen, methanal and gasoline as fuels for fuel cell vehicles: implications for vehicle design and infrastructure development, J POWER SOU, 79(2), 1999, pp. 143-168
Citations number
44
Categorie Soggetti
Physical Chemistry/Chemical Physics","Environmental Engineering & Energy
All fuel cells currently being developed for near term use in electric vehi
cles require hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen can be stored directly or produce
d onboard the vehicle by reforming methanol, or hydrocarbon fuels derived f
rom crude oil (e.g., gasoline, diesel, or middle distillates). The vehicle
design is simpler with direct hydrogen storage, but requires developing a m
ore complex refueling infrastructure. In this paper, we present modeling re
sults comparing three leading options for fuel storage onboard fuel cell ve
hicles: (a) compressed gas hydrogen storage, (b) onboard steam reforming of
methanol, (c) onboard partial oxidation (POX) of hydrocarbon fuels derived
from crude oil. We have developed a fuel cell vehicle model, including det
ailed models of onboard fuel processors. This allows us to compare the vehi
cle performance, fuel economy, weight, and cost for various vehicle paramet
ers, fuel storage choices and driving cycles. The infrastructure requiremen
ts are also compared for gaseous hydrogen, methanol and gasoline, including
the added costs of fuel production, storage, distribution and refueling st
ations. The delivered fuel cost, total lifecycle cost of transportation, an
d capital cost of infrastructure development are estimated for each alterna
tive. Considering both vehicle and infrastructure issues, possible fuel str
ategies leading to the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles are discusse
d. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.