[Arjun Reddy]

Germany on Monday rolled out the world's first hydrogen-powered train, signalling the start of a push to challenge the might of polluting diesel trains with costlier but more eco-friendly technology.


https://www.ndtv.com/science/greener...-train-1917853

[Thermodynamics]

Two trains built by the French train maker Alstom are now operating on a 62 mile stretch of line in northern Germany


Image reference

Germany has rolled out the world’s first hydrogen-powered train, signalling the start of a push to challenge the might of polluting diesel trains with costlier but more eco-friendly technology.

Two bright blue Coradia iLint trains, built by French TGV-maker Alstom, on Monday began running a 62 mile (100km) route between the towns and cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude in northern Germany – a stretch normally plied by diesel trains.

“The world’s first hydrogen train is entering into commercial service and is ready for serial production,” Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said at an unveiling ceremony in Bremervoerde, the station where the trains will be refuelled with hydrogen.

Alstom has said it plans to deliver another 14 of the zero-emissions trains to Lower Saxony state by 2021, while other German states have also expressed an interest.

Hydrogen trains are equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity through a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, a process that leaves steam and water as the only emissions. Excess energy is stored in ion lithium batteries on board the train.


The Coradia iLint trains can run for about 600 miles (1,000km) on a single tank of hydrogen, similar to the range of diesel trains.

Alstom is betting on the technology as a greener, quieter alternative to diesel on non-electrified railway lines – an attractive prospect to many German cities scrambling to combat air pollution.

“Sure, buying a hydrogen train is somewhat more expensive than a diesel train, but it is cheaper to run,” Stefan Schrank, the project’s manager at Alstom, said.

Other countries are also looking into hydrogen trains, Alstom said, including Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Canada. In France, the government has already said it wants the first hydrogen train to be on the rails by 2022.

Reference- The Guardian

[sgiitk]

More important is that it uses fuel cells, and not IC. This will be revolutionary. Let us see the performance.

[srishiva]

I hope hydrogen fuel cells can flourish in mass transportation systems where the charging or swapping charged batteries will be cumbersome. Also, the mileage that these systems put on should make fuel cell usage and hydrogen setup not so costly. Big advantage is no need to electrify lines and use on existing infrastructure.

[androdev]

I believe fuel cell tech will replace extremely large ICEs used by trains, ships, heavy machinery, etc. Battery EVs will replace ICEs used by small city cars. It will be interesting to see which technology will dominate the space in between. We may end up with Fuel cells + BEV hybrids also

[CarJunki]

I hope this experiment is a large success and then acts as catalyst to get this technology deployed more and more. One day i would like to drive a hydrogen powered car instead of petroleum powered one.

[i74js]

Fuel cells share the same struggle that battery / eV technology has - Storage of energy per CC of volume.

Fossil fuel energy storage ranges between 8000 - 9000 kCal per litre which is way higher compared to storage of energy in a battery unit. Fuel cells are somewhere in between in terms of storage of energy.

At present the overall conversion efficiency of fuel cells is between 30 - 35% in real world operations i.e. formation of hydrogen through electrolysis and then hydrogen to electricity. For long term plausible fuel cell based solution the efficiency should be 200% of this i.e. 70% and above.

Nonetheless, its a good start even though supported through state subsidies, yet for pure play commercial operations - its a long way to go !

[sharktale]

Can anyone guide us through the current technology, costs, issues with respect to Hydrogen Fuel cells for the layman?

I was wondering, will a jump from Fossil fuels to Hydrogen cells (skipping EVs altogether) benefit India in the long run compared to the higher costs?
India's attempts, both from manufacturing and bureaucratic POV is very poor.

China has pioneered with the EV production process. Maybe, India can take a first mover advantage and become the hub for mass production for Hydrogen vehicles of all sizes, both for Domestic consumption and for export to other SE Asian nations.


We have already seen the fruitful benefits of skipping from mass 2G to 4G for Indian masses.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

More important is that it uses fuel cells, and not IC. This will be revolutionary. Let us see the performance.

Why not IC? Supposedly IC engines will only produce pure water on combustion. Not sure at what state the current technology is at, but this was the main reason for research on hydrogen powered IC engines. Of course, it assumes that pure oxygen would be fed to the engine.

[blackwasp]

Here is a video of the train in action.

https://youtu.be/TvnEvJ3M5sE