Evaluation studies

A range of evaluation studies will be carried out.   Many of them will be based on the assessment framework developed in the former CUTE project.   The use of a single coherent assessment framework that integrates all activities of the whole project group will be an important achievement.  This arrangement will allow the performance of a wide range of different technologies in the hydrogen infrastructure and the vehicles to be compared.

Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure under 'real life' operational conditions will be carried out.   This will include research into energy efficiencies and environmental impact (Well-to-Tank and Tank-to-Wheel studies) of different hydrogen production pathways and vehicle technology options.

The scale and design of the HyFLEET:CUTE project will allow a comprehensive  LCA of all advanced hydrogen based public transport technologies currently on the market.   Comparisons of the hydrogen ICE and FC buses will be conducted in regular route operation.   They will also be compared with a wide range of other bus technologies.   For example they will be compared with the LH2 (Liquid hydrogen) hybrid bus running in Berlin.

Because the assessment will be carried out under 'real life' operational conditions, it will not suffer from the disadvantage of extrapolating results from test-benches using model drive cycles.  

This is particularly important as public transport vehicles in inner-city transport are regularly operated in a part-load mode which is very different from most model drive cycles.  

The evaluation studies will include

• Analysis of the design options of future fuel cell and H2-ICE buses
• Analysis and evaluation of the different production options for hydrogen in terms of technical, economic and ecological aspects "from well to wheel".   This analysis will also consider the impacts of the origins of the hydrogen and its quality on the fuel cell's lifetime.
• Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to examine scenarios in the new European Union member states.   This will provide background information which will support decisions about how to implement an environmentally viable hydrogen production and distribution system.
• Using the LCA model to examine the entire life cycle of the Beijing hdyrogen production, distribution and fuel cell bus system.  

Generalised Overview of Life Cycle Analysis process, courtesy Michael Fatenbacker, PE Europe

• Comparison of these innovative transport systems with conventional alternatives such as diesel (from Euro IV, Euro V) and compressed natural gas (from Euro V and EEV)
• Extrapolating the results from HyFLEET:CUTE to carry out a technical and economic analysis of various hydrogen production and supply systems .
• Investigating the social acceptance of the new hydrogen technology and related systems.
• Communication of the results and findings about costs, experiences from operation and maintenance, reliability, driver and passenger satisfaction, public acceptance of technology. to all relevant stakeholders through this web page, workshops and conferences.

Work Packages

The Evaluation Studies in HyFLEET:CUTE are to be carried out through 6 Work Packages.