EXPERIENCE FROM THE REFUELLING PLANNING TO PREPARE THE H2MS EUROPEAN HYDROGEN ROAD TOUR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR USE IN EXPERT DISCUSSIONS

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1 EXPERIENCE FROM THE REFUELLING PLANNING TO PREPARE THE H2MS EUROPEAN HYDROGEN ROAD TOUR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR USE IN EXPERT DISCUSSIONS Final 19 December 2012 Dr. Ulrich Bünger, Jan Zerhusen Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH Acknowledgement This project is co-financed by European funds from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking under FCH-JU Grant Agreement Number The project partners would like to thank the EU for establishing the Fuel cells and hydrogen framework and or supporting this activity.

2 Disclaimer The staff of H2moves Scandinavia partners prepared this report. The views and conclusions expressed in this document are those of the staff of the respective H2moves Scandinavia partner(s). Neither the H2moves Scandinavia partner(s), nor any of their employees, contractors or subcontractors, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process enclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights.

3 CONTENTS 1 Introduction BACKGROUND AND AMBITION Key Learnings and Proposed Actions Lack of information on fuelling station specification Technical performance of refuelling station not sufficient Refuelling station reliability often not sufficient Limited refuelling station opening hours Confusing payment / access methods Non-universality of refuelling interface and protocol... 8 i

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6 1 Introduction The Hydrogen Road Tour 2012 was carried out between Sept 13 and Oct as part of the FCHJU supported H2moves Scandinavia project. The Road Tour stopped in various major European cities and successfully hosted events to communicate the project results, document the impressions collected in the regions and offer drive & ride opportunities with latest state-of-the-art fuel cell cars to both private persons and VIPs. Taking 7 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) from 4 different car companies on a 4,000 km tour across Europe has provided the project team valuable insights into today s hydrogen refueling stations and fuel cell cars technology. The increasing number of hydrogen refueling stations in Europe made it possible to refuel the FCEV at various existing stations even allowing for some intercity driving between event cities. Despite the success of the Hydrogen Road Tour 2012 some issues concerning the status of the deployed hydrogen technology need to be addressed to assure a smooth rollout of vehicles and refueling infrastructure in the coming years. Further improvements in technology, communication and in commitment from all stakeholders from the already existing good basis can amplify the chances of a successful entrance into market commercialization. Refueling a FCEV at a hydrogen refueling station is in theory as easy as on a regular petrol station. Find a refueling station, drive to the pump, connect the nozzle to the car, start the refueling process, wait for 3 minutes, unhook the nozzle from the car, pay the fuel and continue driving. 4

7 2 BACKGROUND AND AMBITION When starting the planning process of the EU Road Tour the staff had anticipated the positive experience from another Road Tour of smaller scale, i.e. from Oslo to Monte Carlo with two Hyundai ix35 fuel cell vehicles without trucking in between. Even though some challenges had to be overcome along this tour (access to private stations, IR interface not working on demo cars, driving the maximum driving distance per refueling to a maximum by driving at lowest consumption, e.g. 60 km/h on motorways), the general impression developed that carrying out another Road Tour with but more vehicles would be a rather simple task. In principle the project team was aware that refueling at existing HRS is not yet as comfortable as it will be once hydrogen is established as a vehicle fuel throughout Europe. The following steps were undertaken for the planning: investigate the exact location of all relevant HRSs which are operational during the period of the Road Tour, document the pressure levels provided, the refueling capacities, opening hours and accepted paying method and check whether the refueling stations are certified for the use by each of the 4 different fuel cell vehicle types (without the necessary certification refueling is not allowed by the car companies). After undertaking this exercise, it became obvious that refueling 7 cars (4 different fuel cell vehicle types) from 4 different companies still remains a challenge due to many different reasons. 5

8 3 Key Learnings and Proposed Actions The following list comprises the most relevant issues which the EU Road Tour Planning suffered from, together with suggestions for possible improvements: 3.1 Lack of information on fuelling station specification We have experienced a general lack of information provided on location specific station specifications (as e.g. performance, availability and reliability issues) and a general unwillingness to provide this information in good time, with two implications: demo phase: planning of long-distance trips cumbersome market phase: all information must be readily available and easily accessible not only on request Suggestion for improvements demo phase: more intense fuelling station use, i.e. larger car fleets, will automatically increase service friendliness of HRS operators/owners or equipment suppliers. Else, further funding project calls could request a high level of HRS operating and service commitment in their call text, i.e. making service quality a public communication case. market phase: HRS need to be serviced as any other conventional fuelling station today, including electronically information about the operating status, both via internet and via online info services such as apps (also see SINTEF s task 7.2 in this project) or live traffic control information via radio. The following information should be provided at minimum: Street address Opening hours Available Pressure (e.g. 35 MPa, 70 MPa) Paying method (e.g. Cash, Credit card, CEP-Card, etc.) Planned outages (e.g. inspections) Current status (e.g. operational, out of operation until, etc.) Certification (e.g. certified by Common HRS certification procedure for all vehicles) 6

9 3.2 Technical performance of refuelling station not sufficient Whereas operational safety showed not a single case for complaints, the fuelling station operation needs a clear improvement and stick to SAE J2601 specifications (e.g. refuelling time, 70 MPa filling target) also for several consecutive refuellings and not only for one vehicle. Suggestion for improvements Performance goals need to be kept as specified and any deviations to be reported as well as measures suggested. Any future HRS needs to strictly follow SAE J Refuelling station reliability often not sufficient Keeping the promised refueling reliability for all vehicle types. Suggestion for improvement Keep critical spare parts on stock at the station or at a regional hardware supplier branch office. Consider regular inspections in early market phase to strive for foresighted repairbefore-break behaviour. Make sure a 24/7 hotline with remote control facilities, in an early market at least during highly frequented day- or nighttimes. Provide trained staff in short distance of the HRS network. In the medium-term and for the worst case scenario an HRS replacement (e.g. moveable refueller) should be made available for a HRS cluster (several HRS in one region). Alternatively, the hydrogen service contracts should foresee a paragraph on availability, e.g. such as for fuel cell bus stations already applied today. 1. Keep critical spare parts on stock at the station or at a regional hardware supplier branch office. 2. Consider regular inspections in early market phase to strive for foresighted repairbefore-break behaviour. 3. Make sure a 24/7 hotline with remote control facilities, in an early market at least during highly frequented day- or nighttimes. 4. Provide trained staff in short distance of the HRS network. 5. In the medium-term and for the worst case scenario an HRS replacement (e.g. moveable refueller) should be made available for a HRS cluster (several HRS in one region). 6. Alternatively, the hydrogen service contracts should foresee a paragraph on availability, e.g. such as for fuel cell bus stations already applied today. 7

10 3.4 Limited refuelling station opening hours During our highly visible EU Road Tour event, HRS service staff on duty was in principle willing to help on late hours or outside business hours. Yet, in case of a technical failure the maintenance staff was not available. Suggestion for improvements Service contracts with the hardware providers should add paragraphs on availability of maintenance personell. 3.5 Confusing payment / access methods The team has experienced a variety of payment, access methods (ordinary credit card, specific access cards, chip tokens, ordinary key, no fuelling charge at all) with the added challenge of certain currencies (activation or specific access card) not being available in time. Metering accuracy is still a challenge, even though it did not post any major challenge for the EU Road Tour. Suggestion for improvements Unified currency, i.e. credit card or cash, no separate activation necessary, as each HRS should have service capabilities (e.g. trained personell, hotline access) in the future. 3.6 Non-universality of refuelling interface and protocol In contrast to the claims by industry the team has experienced the uncomfortable need to validate the refueling of each and every pairing of vehicle type and HRSs, as well as incompatibilities of HRS and vehicles (e.g. IR communication). Suggestion for improvements Internationally harmonized HRS-vehicle interface and operating protocols applied to each HRS, also the ones already existing. Agreed protocol applicable by each FCEV manufacturer to avoid specific HRS certification for each vehicle type. The refuelling pressure needs to be agreed soon, be it 70 MPa for cars only, or 70 MPa and 35 MPa in parallel or any other pressure. It should be pointed out that for ordinary private customers the metering accuracy needs to be improved such that a fair pricing is guaranteed. 8