Specialist
Former Chief Engineer at Great Wall Motor Co Ltd
Agenda
- Hydrogen fuelling station components and sourcing
- Construction timelines and cost analysis
- Economics of delivering hydrogen to end-use customers
- Market opportunities and challenges
Questions
1.
What would you say are the key considerations in building a hydrogen fuelling station?
2.
How would you decide between using electrolysis and steam methane reformation? Is there a significant cost difference?
3.
Could you discuss CO2 capture costs? What is the additional cost if you weren’t to vent?
4.
Would you say costs for PEM [proton exchange membrane] electrolysers are trending downwards? Are there lots of vendors for this equipment?
5.
Could key stack component shortages emerge as the hydrogen economy grows? Could there be supply chain difficulties?
6.
Are most stations going liquid because of the improved storage? Might the expense be holding players back?
7.
Could you estimate how long it will take to build the Air Liquide and Air Products liquid hydrogen plants or expansions? You mentioned that 95% of the liquid hydrogen currently being produced is utilised, which is a clear market signal, but how long will it take to solve that? How much incremental capacity is being added relative to the total we have today?
8.
Would you say the compressors for liquefaction are difficult to source? Is capacity available from other industries? Is this standard equipment, or is there a potential bottleneck risk here?
9.
Could you estimate annual maintenance CAPEX for a hydrogen fuelling station?
10.
Where have you noticed hydrogen fuelling activity to date? Has it been concentrated in California given the state’s hydrogen economy doubles every year? Are other areas of the US trying to develop the infrastructure?
11.
How quickly can a truck or bus be fuelled with hydrogen, given you mentioned the recurring revenue stream from these vehicles turning up daily? Is the flow rate as fast as with diesel? Does it take as long as powering a Tesla or somewhere in between?
12.
Are there any other technical challenges that need to be overcome to allow for quicker fuelling besides the cooling?
13.
Are there any safety concerns around fuelling? How have those challenges been met?
14.
Could you estimate costs to build a hydrogen fuelling station?
15.
Could you estimate average hydrogen prices at fuelling stations?
16.
Nikola plans to break ground on its first commercial hydrogen station in Q2 2021. What do you think is a reasonable timeline to build this kind of prototypical station?
17.
Why do you think so much attention is being paid to hydrogen now? What has changed to allow companies to raise capital and build infrastructure?
18.
How many stations do you think will be built in the US? Are they going to be nationwide?
19.
How important is government support to this industry? Is it critical, or are private companies such as Nikola, Shell, Air Products and Air Liquide driving activity?
20.
What signposts should we monitor around industry adoption, profitability or product rollouts in 2021?
