No doubt there are people far more intelligent than me working on the project but
As others have said why do we need a proof of concept?
Buses in northern Scotland will be battery. Homes will be air/ground sourced heat pumps, or modern Infrared panels for difficult properties.
Electricity transmission losses are far far less than the inefficiencies of (green) hydrogen production and use.
Ballard, the company behind Arcola Energy who are doing the Class 614 trial, unveiled their first hydrogen bus way back in 1993. I am yet to see mass adoption in any context, and fuel cell vehicle projects only seem to go ahead where there is vast amounts of government support.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/12ballard.html
While I don't doubt their good intentions, unless there is a revolution in fuel cell technology, battery hybrids are the solution. I believe the money spent on this trial would have been far better spent on investigating how terrible train aerodynamics can be improved so battery range extended.
Anyway, back to the topic. The 614 is running again this week, and will be tackling the hill from Bo'ness up to the high bridge. An engineering possession rules out further progress at present. Again, this is a proof of concept trial, and people need to stop imagining repurposed 314s trundling around the network being the way forward.
As others have said why do we need a proof of concept?
The concept of hydrogen for transport also needs to be looked at in the wider sphere. For rural Scotland a plant in Inverness would supply rail and buses etc as well as an alternative for methane for heating.
Buses in northern Scotland will be battery. Homes will be air/ground sourced heat pumps, or modern Infrared panels for difficult properties.
There is a huge amount of available energy from wind in that area, which would suffer large losses being transmitted to England for example - the argument National Grid used for not buying power from Longannet, forcing its closure. Using it almost at source for hydrogen generation possibly offsets the transmission losses.
Electricity transmission losses are far far less than the inefficiencies of (green) hydrogen production and use.
I'm sure that the people who are looking at this from a commercial view have all the facts they need, but if they don't, then there are no end of forums to keep them right, maybe even suggesting which trains we'd like to see on what lines. I'm pretty sure that will not have occurred to them
Ballard, the company behind Arcola Energy who are doing the Class 614 trial, unveiled their first hydrogen bus way back in 1993. I am yet to see mass adoption in any context, and fuel cell vehicle projects only seem to go ahead where there is vast amounts of government support.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/12ballard.html
While I don't doubt their good intentions, unless there is a revolution in fuel cell technology, battery hybrids are the solution. I believe the money spent on this trial would have been far better spent on investigating how terrible train aerodynamics can be improved so battery range extended.
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