Manufacturing fuel cells and hydrogen tanks is WORSE for the environment than batteries [ICCT]

About a month ago, the International Clean Transport Council (ICCT) released a report on emissions from the production, use and disposal of combustion vehicles, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell (hydrogen) vehicles. Anyone who has looked closely at the charts might be surprised: pbattery production results in lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower environmental burden than the production of fuel cells and hydrogen tanks..

Hydrogen tanks are worse for the environment than batteries. And we're only talking about installation, not production.

The ICCT LCA Report (Life Cycle Analysis) can be downloaded HERE. Here is one of the graphs mentioned, see page 16 in the report. Yellow - production of batteries in the modern world (with current energy balance), red - production of a hydrogen tank with fuel cells, bigger worse:

Slightly surprised, we asked ICCT about these differences because It is generally accepted that the extraction of raw materials and the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries are "dirty" processes, and fuel cells or hydrogen tanks are considered clean.because "they are not all this nonsense." It turns out there was no mistake: in terms of CO emissions₂, the production of batteries is more environmentally friendly and less harmful to the environment than the production of cells and reservoirs.

Dr. Georg Bicker, lead author of the report, told us that he used the GREET model developed by Argonne National Laboratory, a research laboratory for the US Department of Energy, to prepare the statements. Let us emphasize: this is not some kind of research center, but an object, the results of which in the field of nuclear energy, alternative energy sources and radioactivity are recognized all over the world.

Depending on the size of the vehicle and the place of sale, i.e. from the battery source, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions range from 1,6 tonnes of CO equivalent.₂ for small hatchbacks in India (23 kWh battery) up to 5,5 tonnes of CO equivalent₂ for SUVs and SUVs in the US (92 kWh battery; Table 2.4 below). On average for all segments it is about 3-3,5 tons of CO-equivalent.₂... Production categorized includes recycling, if it were, it would be 14-25 percent lower, depending on the recycling process and the amount of recovered raw materials.

For comparison: production of fuel cells and hydrogen tanks emits 3,4-4,2 tons of CO equivalent₂ according to the GREET model or 5 tons of CO equivalent₂ in other models (pp. 64 and 65 of the report). Paradoxically, it is not the recovery of platinum used in fuel cells that carries the greatest burden on the environment, but fabrication of carbon fiber-reinforced composite hydrogen tanks... It is not surprising that the cylinder must withstand a gigantic pressure of 70 MPa, so it weighs several tens of kilograms, although it can only hold a few kilograms of gas.

Hydrogen system in Opel Vivaro-e Hydrogen (c) Opel

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