Analysis of changes over time of the costs of hydrogen infrastructure for vehicle refuelling in London

The cost of building a hydrogen (H2) infrastructure is often said to be a major obstacle to the introduction of hydrogen vehicles to the current mix of road vehicles. But there are a number of ways of producing and distributing hydrogen, each with different associated costs. In addition, changes in key factors, such as technology development and level of demand for hydrogen, will affect costs. This paper looks at factors affecting the costs of hydrogen infrastructure over time for a small, but growing demand from fleet vehicles (e.g. buses or other vehicles) in London. The effects of changes in three key factors, namely H2 demand, technology development, and energy prices (electricity and gas) over time, on the unit of cost of hydrogen are analysed. The analysis and results discussed here have been taken from a PhD project in progress at Imperial College. It is found that the level of demand (for H2) and its rate of growth is the main factor affecting the unit cost of hydrogen over time, as well as the relative costs of the various production-delivery options.