Bosch backs a hydrogen economy
By Ben Purvis
While there's a heavy focus on battery-powered mobility from governments and many car and bike companies, one of the most important players in the industry has thrown its weight behind hydrogen as a clean fuel of the future.
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| Bosch fuel cell stack |
Bosch might not make motorcycles or cars of its own, but the global automotive giant supplies a vast number of components to the world's manufacturers, so its decision to back hydrogen isn't to be taken lightly. It joins the likes of Toyota, Yamaha and Kawasaki in putting faith in hydrogen, whether to be used in fuel cells to generate electricity or for a future generation of ultra-clean combustion engines.
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| Hydrogen compressor |
"On the path to a climate-neutral future, we have to make it possible for energy-intensive industries to shift to renewables. Hydrogen will be a key element in security of supply," says Rolf Najork, the Bosch management board member responsible for industrial technology and the company's manufacturing technology chief. "We are getting hydrogen-based technologies out of the laboratory and into industrial practice - onto the roads and into factories."
'4,000 filling stations globally by 2030'
Bosch's flagship 'Industry 4.0' lead plant in Homburg, Germany, already demonstrates how hydrogen can be used in factories, with its own renewable electricity powered electrolyser to extract hydrogen from water. It's then used for fuel cell vehicle refuelling and for stationary fuel cells, with energy released as and when it's needed.
"We are continuously improving our carbon footprint. As our Industry 4.0 lead plant, Homburg plays a pioneering role in our global manufacturing network. We are systematically reducing our local energy consumption and generating as much of that energy as possible from renewables. We have to tweak both these variables," Najork says.
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| Rolf Najork, Bosch Manufacturing Technology Chief: "We are getting hydrogen-based technologies out of the laboratory and into industrial practice - onto the roads and into factories." |
Bosch has also formed a partnership with Maximator Hydrogen for technology to be used in compressing hydrogen, storage tanks and pipelines, also due to be trialled at Homburg. By 2030 the companies hope to use the same technology in 4,000 hydrogen filling stations worldwide, accounting for one in three such stations globally.
"Industry is paving the way to a climate-neutral future," said Najork. "Bosch industrial technology will deliver key components for the cross-sectoral, ecological transformation of the economy and society."
'industry paving the way'
The intention is to create low-cost hydrogen filling stations, reducing the investment needed from their owners when it comes to the compressors used to fill vehicles' hydrogen tanks.
Bosch also intends to invest up to € 500m into volume production of electrolyser components, bringing down the cost of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The move follows a focus from Toyota on hydrogen, both in fuel cells and combustion engines, where the car giant has employed Yamaha to create a hydrogen-powered V8 racing engine to demonstrate its potential. Yamaha is also working with Kawasaki on hydrogen-powered motorcycle engines, with the Kawasaki H2 supercharged four-cylinder providing an initial platform.
Supercharging or turbocharging is essential for hydrogen combustion engines, as is direct injection into the cylinders, and Kawasaki is working on both elements. Kawasaki's aim for a hydrogen infrastructure means the company recently gained approval to build a massive hydrogen-carrying ship, able to hold 160,000 m3 of liquefied hydrogen. The company is already Japan's leading hydrogen supplier, and this year inked a deal with Airbus to work on a hydrogen-fuelled ecosystem.
