Driving towards a sustainable future

Last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26 ) identified transport as one of three critical sources of carbon emissions, as well as the only sector still increasing its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Consequently, countries, businesses, automotive manufacturers and other stakeholders signed a declaration of commitments to reach 100% of zero emission vehicle sales by 2040 or earlier.

According to the IEA , to achieve the net-zero scenario stringent fuel economy standards, alongside government policies and corporate commitments, no new internal combustion engine vehicles should be sold after 2035, and electric vehicles (EVs) should make up 20% of the vehicle stock by 2030. Additionally, it states that electric and fuel cell vehicles must represent 30% of heavy road vehicles sold in 2030.

Automotive industry under pressure

Seeking to step up the fight against climate change by boosting the development of new mobility vehicles, the EU has banned the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035. It also mandates a 55% reduction in CO? from vehicles in 2030 compared with 2021.

The pressure is on for automotive manufacturers, their supply chain and other stakeholders to develop new technologies that effectively support the global goals of minimising GHG emissions and reaching the net-zero target. However, creating sustainable transportation solutions with alternative powertrains, that are not based on the traditional combustion engine, is a significant challenge.

A greener road to the future

Many fuels and technologies that offer the potential for long-term decarbonisation of transport modes are in development. E-mobility provides clean and efficient transport using EVs powered either by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells.

There’s no doubt that while EV battery technology has developed a pace, industry’s ability to deliver this transition effectively and on time will require significant effort from all involved. While the entire EV industry faces major challenges due to the current market situation, there are various improvement opportunities, such as reduced charging times and minimised battery degradation, driving innovative designs and developments. These news demands on manufacturers will make e-mobilty specifications, testing and compliance ever more critical.

Batteries vs fuel cells

As battery EVs are recharged from the electricity grid, overall carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced if the method of electricity generation emits less carbon dioxide per charged vehicle than those which use hydrocarbons as a fuel. Likewise, hydrogen fuel cell EVs have no tailpipe emissions, so provided that either green or blue hydrogen is used, overall carbon dioxide emissions will also be reduced.

However, fuel cell EVs do have several advantages, such as a larger range of 400 km and above, compared to a range of around 250 km for battery EVs. In addition, fuel cell EVs can be refuelled in a few minutes, whereas battery EVs can take several hours to recharge. For example, while Tesla supercharging stations have a 20-minute charging time this only delivers an 80 per cent charge to protect the battery from high temperatures. For home charging, the charging times are usually many hours, which is only easy for car owners who have their own driveway.

As fuel cell EVs can travel further distances and have shorter refuelling times, they are more suitable for the long haul and heavy loads required by HGVs. However, battery EVs still have a significant role to play in our quest for net zero as they are more suited to domestic situations that allow for a longer recharging downtime, such as overnight before morning commutes.

Best of both worlds

To realistically meet 2030 vehicle targets and hit net zero ambitions, harnessing the benefits of both technologies to create a hybrid will deliver the high-performance systems associated with the traditional combustion engine while reducing carbon emissions.

A vehicle will always need a battery system to support its many functions, but fuel cells can enhance their performance. For example, by solving the issues of distance and charging/refuelling times currently associated with pure battery EVs. This is because the fuel cell can be used to charge the battery, as petrol hybrid vehicles do today.

However, batteries are more capable of effectively managing the various simultaneous energy load demands of a vehicle. The battery management system monitors vehicle safety and performance, with state-of-health functions determining battery degradation and end of usable life. 5G will also be a driver of smart battery maintenance, using real-time data to optimise battery charging and discharging, and support predictive maintenance and failures, as well as remote troubleshooting. It is therefore not a question of either/or, as both battery and fuel cell technologies fill the operational and performance gaps of each other.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t trade it

One aspect that is commonly overlooked for fuel cell EVs is the ability to effectively trade hydrogen. To achieve net-zero, a substantial portion of vehicles will need to be hydrogen-powered, but consumers will not buy such vehicles until they can easily refuel them. That will require accurate measurement of the fuel delivered, so they pay for what they get, alongside a widely available refuelling infrastructure, so they can get to their destination reliably.

It is therefore no surprise that globally there are currently significantly more battery EVs than fuel cell EVs, as the capital costs associated with building a hydrogen refuelling station mean that they are less common than the relatively low-cost battery EV charging points. In the UK, only a handful of hydrogen refuelling stations exist, compared to nearly 100 in Germany - which plans to triple this number by 2030.

Access replacing ownership

Alongside the automotive industry’s focus on the development of new mobility technologies, the concept of shared mobility is becoming increasingly popular as part of the transition towards a more sustainable mobility ecosystem.

Shared mobility is the collective use of vehicles by commuters for transportation, enabling them to gain short-term access to transportation modes on an ‘as-needed’ basis without ownership. Such systems have become a common feature of the modern urban landscape in many cities worldwide and vehicles used include cars, vans, e-bikes, motorcycles and scooters. Once mainstreamed, shared mobility services have been found to offer a significant environmental benefit. A study from the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that the widespread uptake of shared mobility services could have a significant impact on the carbon footprint of urban transport. The analysis indicates it has the potential to eliminate, on average, 6.3% of passenger transport emissions.

Bringing new sustainable mobility solutions on the right road

The automotive industry is set to go through major changes over the next decades in its quest to curb its role in global warming. To access global markets successfully, automotive manufacturers need the support of experts that have extensive experience of testing and benchmarking advanced driving systems.

To bring new innovative and sustainable driving technologies and mobility solutions successfully on the road we support the mobility industry along the whole value chain from production facility audits, functional safety assessments and full vehicle and component testing to global market access, certification, homologation, and training. As an experienced partner in the mobility world TüV SüD supports the automotive industry to solve its challenges and bring sustainable solutions to market while ensuring highest safety for the customers and the environment.