Switching to hydrogen trucks, buses and cars in the UK would require about 2000 more wind turbines around the country鈥檚 coast than if battery-powered vehicles were prioritised, a new analysis suggests.
Battery electric vehicles are already the leading technology for shifting away from fossil fuel cars in the UK, with a record-breaking 108,000 sold last year.
Yet there is still a debate over how best to decarbonise heavy duty vehicles, with hydrogen mooted as the answer by some firms. This week, the UK government .
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So-called green hydrogen can be made by using renewable electricity and electrolysis to extract it from water, but energy is lost in the process, leading some to question whether it stacks up against using renewable electricity directly.
A outlines how much renewable electricity would be needed for hydrogen to provide even a small share of energy needs for road transport by 2050. If half of heavy duty trucks and buses and a tenth of cars run on hydrogen by mid-century, with the rest run on battery electric, the UK will need 15 per cent more electricity than it would by going entirely battery electric, the report finds.
鈥淎fter 2030, renewable energy demand in transport rises quickly. It is therefore essential the UK government rules out now impractical solutions like widespread use of synthetic fuels and hydrogen in cars, vans and trucks,鈥� says Matt Finch at Transport & Environment.
The report indicates that even the battery-only route for trucks and cars will require a dramatic investment in renewables, requiring 369 terawatt hours of electricity supply by 2050, slightly more than total UK electricity generation today. The greater reliance on hydrogen would lift that number to 426 TWh by mid-century.
Finch says a further key reason for prioritising battery trucks is that hydrogen would be best saved for aviation and shipping post-2030, . Another argument is that battery vehicles could act as a giant 鈥渂attery on wheels鈥�, .
