Hydrogen is an opportunity for growth and choice
Bahador Tari – regional manager, Victoria, Energetics
There’s been a lot of noise and momentum around the Australian hydrogen market following the release of the National Hydrogen Strategy in late 2019. Unlike other alternative fuels and sources of energy, hydrogen has had the benefit of bilateral support.
The National Hydrogen Strategy really set the landscape in terms of the federal government’s vision for a hydrogen economy. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of projects that are at trial and visibility stages, being funded or co-funded through ARENA [the Australian Renewable Energy Agency]. Now, it’s time to turn the attention to the customer side and understand where hydrogen is going to be deployed.
Transport is still in its early stages, but we’re seeing the likes of Toyota coming to market with new options. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of comparisons made between battery electric vehicles and [hydrogen] fuel cell electric vehicles. Customers will have the option to choose based on their own lifestyle requirements and preferences and the environmental impact for each of the available technologies. It’s incumbent on industry and government to work with stakeholders and customers to make sure that there is enough guidance material provided for them to be able to make an informed decision.
Now that the Australian market has experienced electric vehicles and we have come to terms with the benefits of the technology, and there’s less anxiety about some of those early concerns, hydrogen is going to benefit from that. Through the work that’s going in terms of range benefits and quick recharging times, those sort of convenience factors will help build the case for the emerging market.
But at the same time, we have to be realistic about the need for infrastructure. Customers need to be confident that, if they do purchase a fuel cell electric vehicle, there’s going to be a refuelling station in close proximity. We need to look for more ambitious policies, to help customers develop more confidence in terms of how they can benefit from the technology.
Path towards net zero paved with consumer options
Matt Macleod - manager, future technologies and mobility, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia
Hydrogen is a really interesting fuel. Theoretically, with a fuel cell that makes electricity, you can use that to power the wheels on a car, or to power the electrical devices in your house or your business. It is the most abundant element in the universe, and, when it’s burned or used, there are no carbon emissions; for example, the only discharge from our Mirai fuel cell electric car is water.
In our electrified portfolio globally, we include battery electric, fuel cell electric, plug-in hybrids and hybrids. Every one of these powertrains reduces emissions. Our goal is to provide low- and zero-emission vehicle options for as many people as possible. For example, some consumers potentially can’t afford the newer technology vehicles but can afford a hybrid. We sold in excess of 65,000 hybrids last year, and – compared with regular petrol cars – every one of those vehicles reduces the CO₂ emissions and fuel used by the owners of those cars.
Recently, Toyota announced an investment of around 8 trillion yen (about $90bn) into the electrification space, and that includes battery electric and fuel cell electric as well. Our organisation isn’t picking just one technology and going down that path. Our role isn’t to tell people what vehicles they’ll be driving – the market will decide and our role is to provide those options.
It’s that normalisation of, “Yes, I actually don’t need to change my lifestyle”. We are the largest automobile company here in Australia, so we’ve got a big role to play in that.
Future fuels are already here – now it’s time to get on with it
David Norman - CEO, Future Fuels CRC
Right now, I’m a very glass-half-full sort of person. I would not have imagined two or three years ago that we would have bipartisan support – therefore no misalignment – on achieving net zero by 2050. Being committed to that is a monumental movement forward.
So, now it’s transforming the dialogue and exchange to: “How do we get there? What do we target?” The partnership between industry, companies, academia, government and civil society as a whole is needed in this collaborative method to actually achieve this.
Inevitably, the future of transportation is electrification of it. We have a technology that’s been around for 100 years: the internal combustion engine. We need to switch and electrification is it. It’s here, it’s exciting. It actually offers us not just the solution to removing carbon dioxide but also a whole lot of other benefits: the health benefits, the environmental emissions other than CO₂, and the environmental benefit of much less noise.
Even today, the issues of range, range anxiety and what we do with infrastructures is still one of the impediments – psychologically more than in reality. Hydrogen, and the ability to store a really dense amount of fuel, allows us a whole lot of options for those consumers that want a longer distance. That becomes more important when you get into the heavier duty vehicles, as well.
Battery electric and hydrogen fuel cells are both electric. So, we have two technologies that work, two technologies whose costs are dramatically dropping, and consumer acceptance is here with us now. In this enormous challenge, that we’ve got to achieve 2030 – and, most importantly, 2050 – targets, we’ve got pathways now. And they’re exciting, and they’re different. Now it’s a case of really just implementing and getting on with it.
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