IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2018 - 54

(a)

(b)

Figure 6. A crash test performed on an FCEV: (a) a view from the side and (b) a view from the bottom. (Images courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company.)

TaBLE 2. The members of

the hydrogen Council.
Category

Company

Energy

Engie
Iwatani
Shell
Statoil
Total

Industrial gas

Air Liquide
The Linde Group

Mining

AngloAmerican

Plastic

Plastic Omnium

Transport

Alstom
Audi
BMW
Daimler
GM
Honda
Hyundai
Kawasaki
Toyota

done will help. in this regard, the activities of Japan and
China are noteworthy; plans have been announced for the
construction of 900 and more than 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations, respectively, by 2030. in addition, countries in
europe and north america have their own plans. aggregately, approximately 2,360 hydrogen refueling stations are
expected to be globally available by 2025. The private sector
is also making contributions, of which a notable example
is the launch of the Hydrogen Council in 2017. This council
is composed of 18 international members that are leading
energy, transport, and industry companies working together for the development and commercialization of the
hydrogen and fuel-cell sectors (Table 2).
in addition to the number of available hydrogen refueling stations, the challenges of where and how to obtain
hydrogen remain. Currently, hydrogen is mostly produced

I EEE E l e c t r i f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / march 2018

from petroleum and natural gases, i.e., hydrocarbon, and
the process to obtain hydrogen is not free from carbondioxide emissions. a cleaner method to produce hydrogen
is the process of water electrolysis using electricity, which
can be generated from renewable energy sources. in fact,
some regions of the earth are abundant in renewables such
as solar, wind, and geothermal energy. Therefore, hydrogen
can be a suitable energy carrier to resolve the temporal and
spatial discrepancy between energy demand and supply
because it can store surplus renewable energy, which would
otherwise vanish, for future use and be transported from
places with more supply to places with more demand.

Summary
There are many obstacles to the success of FCevs, each of
which is not easy to overcome. although the solutions to
some of them have been found, a portion of these solutions are based on a hypothetical situation of the prevalence of FCevs, which appears illogical. nevertheless, the
use of fossil fuels undeniably damages the environment,
and hydrogen is a clean-energy carrier that can be produced from renewable energy sources. FCevs using hydrogen as a fuel will soon emerge in the automotive market,
unless a completely new technology suddenly appears.
a key question is how to begin the virtuous cycle of the
hydrogen economy. The answer may be found in humanity. The desire to drive a car that is better for our families
and our planet can be more effective than government
regulations and business activities. Sales of organic foods
and products have been on the rise even though they are
more expensive and sometimes worse in quality than regular ones. why, then, can't FCevs be like them?

Biographies
Jungik Kim (kignuj@hyundai.com) is with the Hyundai
motor Company, Seoul, South Korea.
Saehoon Kim (saehoon@hyundai.com) is with the
Hyundai motor Company, Seoul, South Korea.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2018