Is hydrogen the next frontier for our green transport solutions? It’s been touted as a solution for years, but is it really? Explainer editor Lloyd Burr goes for a drive and finds some answers.
I was standing in front of this fenced off stack of shipping containers linked by hundreds of pipes and cables, trying to get my head around how bonkers it all was.
It was one of Hiringa Energy’s green hydrogen refuelling stations in South Auckland’s Wiri. But here’s the bonkers part: they don’t ship the hydrogen in from their base in Taranaki, they make it on-site - it’s a hydrogen factory! And it was right there in front of my eyes.
It’s like dark magic. Water and electricity go in and a fuel source comes out the end, with a bit of oxygen as a waste-product.
But it’s less dark magic and more green magic. And the world of magical green hydrogen has progressed far more than I had realised. There are five refuelling stations in operation around the country powering buses, trucks, boats, and cars. And there are big plans on the horizon with dozens of new refuelling stations in the pipeline.
What is hydrogen?
It’s everywhere. You’re drinking it when you have a glass of water, a pint of beer, a flute of bubbly, or a cup of tea. You’re eating it in your beef burger, your carbonara, or your chickpea salad. It’s in insects, trees, plants, animals, fish - pretty much every living thing. Even the sun and stars are mostly hydrogen.
It’s the most abundant element in the universe (hence why it’s at the beginning of the periodic table of the elements). But as a gas on earth, hydrogen is scarce. That’s because it’s almost always joined with other elements to create other compounds.
Of these compounds, water is the most well-known. H2O is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. There’s ammonia or NH3: one nitrogen atom and three hydrogen atoms. Methane is CH4 which is one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Something as simple as table sugar is C12H22O11: 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms.
You get my drift. Hydrogen is everywhere, but it’s scarcely alone.
Will this be the new normal at truck stops around the country?
There are many ways to extract hydrogen gas. The most common method around the world is called thermal extraction or ‘steam reforming’ and requires fossil fuels like oil, coal, natural gas, and methane. There is also solar extraction (using the sun) and biological extraction (biogas and sewerage sludge). These processes are quite complex and they don’t happen in New Zealand, so I won’t explain the intricacies.
In New Zealand, all hydrogen refuelling stations use water and electricity in a process called electrolysis.
Here’s a very simplified explanation of electrolysis:
Water is purified and pumped into a device called an electrolyser, which is powered by electricity.
The electricity is used to split the water into hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms, a process called electrolysis.
Devices called anodes, cathodes, and membranes capture the separated atoms.
The oxygen is discharged into the air.
The hydrogen is cooled down, compressed and stored in pressurised vessels.
It’s used to refuel vehicles.
It takes around 20L of water to make 1kg of hydrogen. If the water is pure to begin with, it would take around 10L.
You might hear the terms ‘green hydrogen’ and ‘brown hydrogen’. When the energy used to make the hydrogen is renewable and there’s no greenhouse gas emissions, it’s called ‘green hydrogen’. When the electricity is derived from non-renewable sources or there are bad emissions, it’s called ‘brown hydrogen’. Currently, 99% of the world’s hydrogen gas production is ‘brown hydrogen’ but nearly all hydrogen fuel in New Zealand is ‘green hydrogen’. You’ll also hear about ‘blue hydrogen’ which uses green energy to capture hydrogen from fossil fuels, but the resulting carbon emissions are captured and stored.
Internal combustion engine
Interestingly, the first ever internal combustion engine made in 1804 was powered by hydrogen gas (that didn’t last long). Nowadays, engines that run purely on igniting hydrogen are still in development and will likely work in the same way LPG or diesel engines work.
However, hybrid hydrogen-diesel engines are already on the road and it’s a New Zealand company leading the way. HW Richardson retrofits new and used diesel trucks into hybrid hydrogen vehicles. They’ve created the world’s first dual-fuel concrete truck for Allied Concrete, and also for milk tankers and other hauler units. More on this further down.
Fuel cell
An exceptional piece of technology that essentially does the reverse of the hydrogen production process. Funnily enough, this process is called reverse electrolysis. Hydrogen and oxygen are brought together in a complex process and it makes electricity (as well as heat and water). The electricity powers an electric motor (similar to an electric vehicle) and any excess charges a battery. The chemical reaction in the cell happens instantaneously, meaning electricity for the motor is created as it’s needed.
Hydrogen is delivered at two pressures at refuelling stations. Cars typically take the higher pressure of 700bar whereas heavy vehicles take 350bar.
Once the hydrogen is made, it's compressed and stored in these cylinders which are stack 3x3 in a container. These are at a pressure of 350bar
Dr Linda Wright is the chief executive of the NZ Hydrogen Council and says hydrogen has a big potential here given New Zealand’s abundance of renewable energy, especially at night when consumption is low.
However, one of the hurdles is uptake. How can households and businesses be encouraged to invest in hydrogen when they have doubts about the availability of refuelling infrastructure?
“It’s that old story around the chicken and the egg. Which one comes first? But you need both, you need both to progress at the same time. You can't get the trucks on the road unless you've got the refuelling capability but that started four or five years ago,” she says.
One area where hydrogen has huge potential is decarbonising the heavy transport sector which is responsible for 25% of transport emissions even though it only makes up 4% of vehicles on our roads.
Trucking companies can buy pure-hydrogen trucks when diesel ones are at the end of their lifespan. For those that aren't, they can retrofit them into hybrid diesel-hydrogen powertrains.
“A critical part of the transition scale is hydrogen dual fuel. It’s a critical transition technology - utilising existing assets,” she says.
Invercargill company HW Richardson is leading the world in converting diesel trucks into hybrids. Provided they have all the right parts, it can be done in a couple of days.
I met one of the company’s workers - Craig McKenzie - in front of an Allied Concrete truck he converted into a hybrid in Christchurch and subsequently drove it to Auckland. It’s the first of its kind in the world.
“We can convert existing platforms as well as brand new trucks, like this one,” he says. “So you don't have to have capital for a new truck”.
There’s no special new engine installed. Instead, some special additions inject hydrogen gas into the intake of the existing diesel engine. The ratio is around 60% diesel and 40% hydrogen. The beauty of the system means the engine can run purely on diesel if there’s no hydrogen refuelling station nearby.
“While hydrogen can be difficult to get at the moment, probably outside of Auckland, this can be driven as a diesel truck as well, so you have no range anxiety,” says McKenzie.
The concrete truck is the sixth truck they’ve converted but they have a growing list of customers.
“We've got another couple of trucks to convert after this and a couple on the go. We've got capacity in New Zealand right now of frames ready to go on trucks and we’ve got another six as well as importing a couple of 40 ft containers of tanks to kind of take it to the next level,” he says.
Another reason why business is starting to take off for McKenzie is a new government incentive where 25% of the conversion cost is covered by EECA’s Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund.
Where can I fill up?
Current hydrogen refuelling stations:
Auckland (Wiri): Hiringa/Waitomo 350bar.
Auckland (Wiri): Halcyon/Corgas 350 + 700bar.
Hamilton (Te Rapa): Hiringa/Waitomo 350bar.
Taupo: Halcyon 350 + 700bar.
Palmerston North: Hiringa/Waitomo 350bar.
None of them are open to the public. You currently need an account with the supplier in order to fill up but this will change as it becomes more commonplace.
Various hydrogen companies plan to open new stations over the next few years but the plans aren’t set in stone just yet. Here’s the indicative rollout map provided by the NZ Hydrogen Council:
NZ Hydrogen Council
Hiringa Energy is one of the providers and has an ambitious plan to rapidly expand its refuelling network to more than 25 locations by around 2028. Their main focus is not cars, but heavy vehicles.
“There are 6,500 new trucks bought every year and at the moment 6,980 of them are diesel. So we're buying a legacy fleet as a country,” says chief executive Andy Clennett.
“So ourselves with hydrogen, our partners with hydrogen, and with the battery technology, we need to be getting a real leg up to get going so we can scale up quickly,” he says.
Clennett says a huge part of this is confidence. Businesses want to know the infrastructure will be there for their new trucks.
“The most important element of this was partnering with the market and understanding what the market's needing, how we're going to need to satisfy that market and from that, gain their confidence to make the fairly substantial investments made.”
Given hydrogen production requires a lot of electricity, and given prices and supply fluctuates in New Zealand, it poses a threat to expansion of hydrogen. But Hiringa has a plan to deal with that too.
“We have a wind turbine farm plan that we will put a station at in South Taranaki. And we're planning stations that have land next door that we're looking at putting the solar on,” says Clennett.
What hydrogen vehicles are available in New Zealand?
Cars.
Options are limited at the moment, with many of them part of trials, car share, or used as a promotional tool. However, there are quite a few second hand ones available. Here are the options:
Toyota Mirai. It first launched in 2014 and its second generation version has just come out. It has a range of 640km on a single tank
Hyundai Nexo. It launched off the back of Hyundai’s success in fuel cell development. It has a range of 660km on a single tank.
BMW iX5 Hydrogen. Based on its electric sibling, this version is in its concept phase. BMW says it has a range of 504km on a single tank.
Buses.
Global Bus Ventures (GBV) 3 axle city bus. Designed and made in New Zealand, this bus is currently part of the AT fleet. It has a range of around 400km on a single tank.
GBV double decker. Also designed and made in NZ (although yet to hit the road), it features a Toyota-made fuel-cell and Toshiba batteries. It has a range of around 350km.
FUN FACT: GBV is also leading the world in converting trucks with internal combustion engines into ones powered by hydrogen fuel cells. They replace the entire power train. Their first conversion is going through testing now.
Hyundai Mighty. It’s a light-duty truck with a range of 500km per tank.
Hyundai Xcient. It’s the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen truck and it arrived here a few years ago. It’s currently in operation with NZ Post, with a range of 400km on a single tank.
Hyundai’s National Manager of Hydrogen and Eco Commercial Vehicles is a guy called Grant Doull and he took me for a 14 minute spin in the Xcient. It was nothing like the trucks my dad used to drive when I was a kid. It was silent, and the driver console was simple.
“You can hear a slight humming,” he says. “It's an artificial noise just so that while we're going really slow, people around the truck can hear that it's running”.
It’s just the second example of the Xcient in the country, and it’s already been sold, although he won’t say who to. NZ Post has the other one and has already racked up 120,000 kms. Three more will arrive soon and they’ve also been sold.
“There's certainly demand but it’s demand from leadership organisations. It's not what we call mainstream yet because it’s early technology entering the market and there's still a price premium,” he says.
A lot of the interest has come from exporters whose customers are increasingly demanding low-emission products.
Doull was also worried drivers wouldn’t like how quiet and low-input the truck is but the feedback has been the opposite: they love it.
“They hop out refreshed and they feel great. You sort of underestimate the traditional diesel truck and the vibrations and fatigue it has on you over a period of time,” he says.
FUN FACT: Boats
You might have seen the foiling chase boats at the America’s Cup? They were developed in New Zealand in partnership with GBV and Toyota.
Is it safe?
When I think of hydrogen, I think of the hydrogen bomb and the Hindenburg Disaster. Neither are good for hydrogen’s reputation and both have given it a bad name.
The hydrogen bomb gets its name from two hydrogen isotopes used in the fusion process that causes the explosion (Deuterium and Tritium). But there’s a third isotope called Protium which is the most prevalent (99.8% of hydrogen is this type). It’s the safe isotope and it’s what the hydrogen industry uses. Your fuel cell in your car is not going to blow up.
The Hindenburg was an airship that used hydrogen gas for floatation. When it burst into flames while docking in 1937, the hydrogen was the first thing to ignite and it was all gone after about 60 seconds. The ship’s frame, fabric skin, flammable paint and diesel were responsible for the fire that burned for several hours afterwards. I’m told even if it was full of helium (which is non-flammable), it would have met the same fate.