California launches America’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train

San Bernardino, a city in Southern California, has unveiled the first hydrogen-powered passenger train in the United States, an important milestone as California steps up its efforts to meet its 2045 carbon neutrality goals.

Nicknamed the Zemu for Zero-Emission Multiple Unit, the $20 million train uses a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery system to power the light vehicle, capable of carrying 108 passengers on a 9-mile line known as the Arrow Corridor. San Bernardino is notorious for poor air quality due to a high concentration of highways, railroad yards, and industrial facilities.

The recent city failed American Lung Association 2024 State of the Air Index, a test based on the number of days ozone and particulate pollution exceeded safe levels. The Zemu is likely to attract travelers not only for its green credentials, but also because it will run more quietly than conventional passenger trains.

.”All you’ll hear are a few HVAC blowers and cooling fans,” said Kaden Killpack, commercial project manager at Stadler US, which oversees the San Bernardino County Transit Authority (SBCTA), as reported The Guardian.

Hydrogen fuel cells combines hydrogen and oxygen molecules to generate electricity and water vapor as a byproduct. The Zemu will become the first passenger train in North America to meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements when it goes into service in 2025. The Zemu has been years in the making, and SBCTA officials contracted Swiss rail manufacturer Stadler Inc to provide technology that will alleviate poor air quality in the area and reduce stress on county roads.

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“Once you take that vehicle and add hydrogen to it, you make it possible to have zero-emission technology on the same corridors that Union Pacific and NSF run onKillpack said. “That’s what’s really crazy and cool about it“.

Zemu may act as a proof of concept that other states can adopt to make their transportation networks greener. California, however, is wasting no time stepping up its hydrogen train system, with Caltrans — the state’s transportation department — commissioning Stadler to build longer versions of the hydrogen trains that will run between Merced and Sacramento in the Midwest . Valley. Caltrans has already ordered 10 units of the larger trains, with an option to buy 19 more under the terms of the $80 million contract.

High costs

As is often the case, high costs could be the biggest obstacle to rapid adoption of hydrogen technology in the US transportation sector and elsewhere. Last month, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reported that only 12% of hydrogen plants have customers with takeover agreementsmost being vague, non-binding arrangements that can be quietly dropped if potential buyers back out. The big problem here is that many industries that could run on hydrogen require expensive retrofitting to make it a reality, a leap most are unwilling to make. Indeed, it is prohibitively expensive to upgrade freight lines in the US

“You have to sell at least hundreds (of trains) to start getting some economies of scale and bring those costs down.” said Lewis Fulton, the Energy Director of the Futures Program at UC Davis’ Institute for Transportation Studies.

Green hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy costs nearly four times more than gray hydrogen created from natural gas or methane, using steam methane reforming, but without capturing the greenhouse gases emitted in the process. Naturally, it’s hard to build hydrogen infrastructure when the demand may not materialize for years.

“No sane project developer will start producing hydrogen without a buyer for it, and no sane banker will lend money to a project developer without reasonable confidence that someone will buy the hydrogen,” notes BNEF analyst Martin Tengler.

“It is no different than any other energy development at scale. Natural gas pipelines were not built without customers,” says Laura Luce, CEO of Hy Stor Energy. Laura’s company has obtained an exclusive letter of intent to supply hydrogen to an iron plant that SSAB SA of Sweden plans to build in Mississippi.

The cost difficulties are quite dire, even in renewables-obsessed Europe.If half of it comes true, we’ll be happy. If a quarter comes to fruition, we will be happy”, Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) told BNEF, referring to the company’s 4.5 gigawatts of engineering and design work underway for European green hydrogen generation projects. According to Marsh, EU member states are still incorporating hydrogen roadmaps into their own regulations, delaying private investment.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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