Project Summary
Zero-emission vehicles are seen as key technologies for reducing freight- related air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. California’s 2016 Sustainable Freight Action Plan established a target of 100,000 zero-emission freight vehicles utilizing renewable fuels by 2030. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are a promising zero-emission technology, especially for applications where batteries might be difficult to implement, such as heavy-duty trucks, rail, shipping and aviation. However, California’s current hydrogen infrastructure is sparse, with about 25 stations, primarily sited to serve fuel cell passenger vehicles and buses. New infrastructure strategies will be critical for implementing hydrogen freight applications. The researchers will analyze hydrogen infrastructure requirements, focusing on hydrogen fuel cells in freight applications, using a California-specific EXCEL-based scenario model developed under the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways program (STEPS) at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis (Miller et al, 2017). Hydrogen vehicle adoption and demand will be estimated for trucks, rail, shipping and aviation, for a range of scenarios out to 2050. We will design infrastructure to meet these demands, including hydrogen production, storage, delivery and refueling, and estimate numbers and types of stations required, infrastructure capital and operating costs and levelized costs for delivered hydrogen. Finally, we will assess potential infrastructure synergies with hydrogen stations now under development and with natural gas infrastructure. The main research tasks will be carried out with co-support from the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways Program.