Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - 25

SUSTAINABILITY FEATURE
The U.S. DoE is
seeking an 80%
reduction in the
cost of green
hydrogen by 2030,
which would make
hydrogen a much
cheaper vehicle fuel
than gasoline.
passenger cars and light trucks sold in the state to be
electric or otherwise emissions-free by 2035. In a similar
action, members of the European Parliament in
June, 2022 voted to ban the sale of new gasoline and
diesel cars by 2035.
Despite these well-intentioned moves, turnover of
the entire vehicle fleet will be slow. BEVs will continue
to share the road with IC-engine vehicles for many
decades. The average vehicle driven today is about 12
years old and new-vehicle sales each year represent
between 6%-7% of the total number of vehicles in operation.
This means that the aggressive 50% sales-mix
target proposed by the Biden administration for EVs in
2030 will translate to an incremental shift of only 3%4%
of the total vehicles in operation each year.
To reduce transportation-related CO2 emissions in
the interim, we suggest reexamining low-carbon biofuels
and synthetic fuels, which can be used in conventional
IC-engine vehicles, simultaneously reducing petroleum
dependence and CO2 emissions. Most importantly,
these benefits can be realized on the entire
fleet of vehicles in operation as soon as these fuels
become available, since compatible vehicles and the
distribution infrastructure for such fuels already exist.
Significant gains could come from advancing nextgeneration
" drop-in " biofuels - which do not require
significant infrastructure investments to implement -
with better carbon profiles that can entirely replace
(or be mixed with) gasoline and diesel. These fuels use
a variety of feedstocks, such as leftover cornstalks,
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
genetically modified algae, halophytes (plants that thrive in salt water),
and decomposed organic matter, which could create sustainable
regional fuel sources as well as jobs.
Approaches that attempt to tackle two or more societal needs at
once could be particularly helpful. For example, Red Rock Biofuels,
which uses waste wood products including dead trees, tackles both
the growing need for sustainable aviation and diesel fuel and the
growing problem of catastrophic wildfires. The United States should
continue to invest in the development of cost-competitive sustainable
fuels, both bio-based and fully synthetic-based, looking in particular
for solutions that reduce emissions, create jobs and help tackle
other economic or environmental problems.
A final option that should get more attention is hydrogen. A fuelcell
vehicle (FCV) running on hydrogen produces only water as exhaust,
and the tank can be refilled in 3 to 5 minutes - comparable to
a conventional IC-engine vehicle. Most hydrogen available today
comes from natural gas. However, there are other, cleaner paths to
hydrogen production, with the most encouraging being " green " hydrogen
produced from water through electrolysis using renewable
electricity sources. The U.S. DoE is seeking an 80% reduction in the
cost of green hydrogen by 2030, which would make hydrogen a
much cheaper vehicle fuel than gasoline.
Hydrogen fueling is particularly attractive for long-haul heavyduty
trucks and heavy equipment that do not routinely return to a
central depot, thereby reducing those vehicles' emissions while
avoiding lengthy charging times that electric versions of these vehicles
would require.
Today, California has 53 retail hydrogen refueling stations and another
68 in development. Admittedly, the costs associated with increasing
the hydrogen infrastructure are large. But so are the capital
February 2023 25
ROB CRANDALL/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Automotive Engineering - February 2023

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Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - INTRO1
Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - SPONSOR1
Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - CVRA
Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - CVRAB
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