Video presentation by Senator Bob Mensch

Rapid electrification in the automobile industry has given consumers expanded choices to green their mobility. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) have the benefit of simplicity of infrastructure in the sense that they can be “easily” plugged in to an outlet and charged. The significant downside is that charging time is long and vehicle range is short. A typical full battery charge can be 4-8 hours from a Level 2 charger. On the other hand, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) are the only Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) that can completely replicate the current driving experience. FCEVs can be fueled in 3-5 minutes and get 300-400 miles of driving range. Automakers such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes have vehicles available now in select markets. The U.S. projects 1,000,000 FCEVs by 2030. Still, one million fuel cell cars in the U.S. represent only 0.5% of total cars within the U.S. economy. Installation of hydrogen refueling infrastructure will pace fuel cell adoption rate, so broad mainstream consumer usage across the country is likely 25-30 years away.

Why will it take so long? There are two limiting factors:

#1 Hydrogen Availability: The average consumer will not purchase a hydrogen car until they don’t have to think about logistics to refuel it. Currently, consumers owning gasoline-powered cars drive to a nearby gas station as needed without much thought involved. By comparison, hydrogen is not a readily-available fuel… at least not yet (except for parts of California). Countries like the U.S., Germany, and Japan are leading the charge to turn this tide by making considerable investments in easily accessible infrastructure. As a result, hydrogen stations are beginning to blanket cities to make hydrogen ubiquitous. When consumers need to fill up their hydrogen vehicle, they will drive to the local gas station, slide a credit card, fuel in 3-5 minutes and be on their way. Same consumer experience.
#2: Hydrogen Infrastructure Expense. Consumers want the same range from a fuel cell vehicle as they get from a gasoline-powered vehicle. To do this, hydrogen must be compressed (that’s where PDC Machines comes in handy) and stored in tanks at very high pressure. At 10,000 PSI, five kilograms of hydrogen can be stored in a tank that is about same size as a gasoline tank and provides over 300-400 miles of range. Same consumer experience. However, to store and dispense hydrogen at this very high pressure, gas stations require infrastructure that, today, is still expensive. Further, hydrogen stations are being built for future demand, which means the cost of a high-capacity station is very high compared to the number of cars using it. Economics will improve over time:
↑ cars on the road = ↑ hydrogen flowing through infrastructure = ↓ fuel cost at the pump
↑ stations = ↑ infrastructure manufacturing = ↓ station production costs

Impact to Businesses Adopting Fuel Cells
Renewable hydrogen can be generated via electrolysis (splitting water into its hydrogen and oxygen constituents) by using electricity created by renewable energy such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, etc.
Businesses using renewable hydrogen in their fuel cell vehicles will see greater energy efficiency in their operations since the fuel cell electric engines operate at over 50% efficiency compared to 20-25% for gasoline engines. These businesses will also see reductions in service costs; fuel cell vehicle fleets require less maintenance – no oil changes, no tune-ups, and fewer brake replacements due to regenerative braking in fuel cell electric vehicle drivetrains. For businesses with vehicle fleets, fueling logistics become much easier because renewable hydrogen can be produced onsite at their facility. Additionally, industries, such as food delivery companies, can rethink their operations by using quiet fuel cell vehicles during evening delivery hours to optimize their business models. All these benefits occur while reducing their carbon footprint.
Impact to Pennsylvania Businesses
For infrastructure suppliers and technology providers like PDC Machines, the expanding hydrogen energy market means more jobs in Clean Tech, specifically high-end manufacturing jobs. This also means more investment in domestic manufacturing and supply chain. PDC Machines is investing in expanding local manufacturing by about 50% to support market growth. This success propagates through the supply chain and directly affects sub-suppliers and other partners, enabling the growth of this important industry.

For more information, feel free to contact PDC Machines.

Jim Petrecky
C: 518.763.9777
E: j.petrecky@pdcmachines.com

The partners of the Simplefuel® hydrogen refueling appliance – IVYS Energy Solutions and PDC Machines along with Japanese partner Tokyo Boeki Mechanics – are deeply proud and honored to announce its first commercial deployment in Japan. The Simplefuel® Hydrogen Refueling Appliance is a compact, self-contained station for refueling hydrogen powered vehicles complete with hydrogen production, purification and dispensing. With support from the Japanese Environmental Ministry of the Central Government, the SimpleFuel® appliance will use solar or grid electricity to produce and deliver hydrogen for use with a Toyota Industries fuel-cell forklift truck at the Kesen Precut Cooperative, an Iwate Prefecture-based tree and timber production co-op. Kesen Precut manufactures high quality wood and wood chip products for the Japanese market with two production facilities in Sumida Town and Rikuzentakata, Japan. Kesen Precut makes electrical power for their facilities in part from the solar power and valley water (lumber remnants and wood waste), and in this project are demonstrating revolutionary clean mobility of goods that will enable the Hydrogen Society of Japan and the world at large.

The Simplefuel® Hydrogen Appliance was developed in response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s H2 Refuel H-Prize competition, challenging American innovators to create solutions that could provide a path for greater adoption of FCEVs by drastically improving the performance and affordability of small-scale hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The Simplefuel® team consisting of IVYS Energy Solutions (MA, USA), PDC Machines (PA, USA) and McPhy NA (MA, USA) were awarded the Hprize in early 2017 and has been working over the past year to commercialize the technology.

“IVYS and our international partners are committed to bringing clean and renewable transportation technologies to reality such as in this landmark demonstration with Kesen Precut, Toyota Industries, Toyota Leasing and Financing, Watari Co, LTD and JA Mitsui Leasing,” says Darryl Pollica, CEO of IVYS Energy Solutions. “We are truly appreciative of the foresight of the U.S. Department of Energy to incentivize innovation through the H-Prize competition to catalyze this product and trigger our USbased manufacturing, as well as the warm reception of this technology in the Iwate Prefecture and the Japanese Ministry of Environment. We believe our concerted efforts to commercialize compact refueling appliances will help enable and ensure sustainable transportation alternatives, while creating clean energy jobs, and benefitting the environment globally.”

“PDC Machines is deeply excited about providing this exciting innovation to the Japanese Hydrogen Society, enabling a new market segment for small refueling solutions,” says Kareem Afzal Vice President and Partner at PDC Machines and who is responsible for the business development of Simplefuel® in the Asia Pacific Region. “It is our deep honor to partner with so many innovative thinkers and doers for this project in Iwate Prefecture. We look forward to this being a springboard for broad adoption of compact refuelers in the Japanese and Asian markets. We have prepared for the commercialized market- and are ready to deliver.” “We could make one large step forward to develop the international technical possibilities and it into global stage by installing this compact appliance with the USA’s newest technology”, says Akira Shibuta Vice President of Tokyo Boeki Mechanics. “With the additional Japanese requirement’s for installation in Japan the project partners were able to successfully blend the refueler with the associated Japanese components to meet the requirements of Japan’s independent hydrogen safety code. We deeply appreciate related people for this project and effort.”

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The 14th Int’l Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Expo February 28th to March 2nd at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan.
 

PDC’s Kareem Afzal presented our role in supplying diaphragm compressors to the expanding hydrogen energy sector at the 2nd International Fuel Cell Vehicle Conference Nov. 9-10, 2017 in Rugao, China.

PDC的克里姆 阿布扎尔先生于11月9-10日，2017, 在如皋举行的第二国际燃料电池车大会上在做演讲，关于“隔膜压缩机在氢能产业的拓展中所发挥的作用”。