Hydrogen public transport
Date: 13-11-2020
Group: 3
Names:)
Tutor:
Course: Innovation Systems
Education: Science and Innovation Management
Words: 594
Introduction
During the initial lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic, a decrease in air pollution has been
observed throughout the world. This has been beneficial for urban populations because of
the increased air quality in cities, which improves the health of the population and solves
problems with smog. Because of this sudden improvement of air quality, a new wave of
climate activists has risen to make sure that this improvement will be permanent (van Hoof,
2020). This is also the case in the United Kingdom. In the UK the plan is to take on the
public transport system and make sure that by 2040 all public transport in the UK is carbon
neutral. An important aspect in this plan is to make use of hydrogen instead of fossil fuels for
buses and trains.
Hydrogen vehicles are powered by an electric motor and thus have no carbon footprint. The
abbreviation is FCEV (“Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle”). Hydrogen vehicles have their own power
plant on board: a fuel cell. In this fuel cell hydrogen and oxygen generate electrical energy.
This energy is directed into the electric motor or battery (BMW, 2020). With hydrogen fuel
cell busses there is an addition of a battery. The battery provides extra power for the
acceleration of the bus. After that the hydrogen fuel cell takes over (Hydrogen Europe,
2018). In terms of comfort and acceleration, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are comparable with
combustion engines vehicles. Most petrol and diesel engines can drive for more than 500
kilometers and with hydrogen and electric battery vehicles this is only around 250 kilometers.
Most battery electric vehicles take hours to recharge, with a hydrogen fuel cell bus this only
takes a few minutes (Shell, 2020).
Although the warming of the earth is a global problem, this report will delineate to a national
level with focus on the use of hydrogen vehicles in the public transport sector of the UK. In
the public transport of the UK the main vehicles which can be powered by hydrogen are
busses and trains, therefore only these two will be referred to by the use of the word ‘public
transport’ unless mentioned otherwise.
To do a TIS-analysis of the hydrogen fueled public transport sector in the UK, it is important
to delineate which actors play an important role in the system. Firstly the UK government
plays an important role in funding the plans, also the firms that will produce the hydrogen
,vehicles are important actors. Furthermore public transport companies and their personnel
who will have to make use of the new vehicles play a part in the system.
Hydrogen fuel cell transport has gone through the development stage and is starting to take
off. On the 30th of September this year, the first ever full hydrogen-powered train trials
began. The train, known as the HydroFLEX, has followed a 2 year development stage with
investments from Portherbrook and the University from Birmingham. It is developed by the
company Tees Valley. Their ambition is to drive forward the UK’s plans to embrace the use
of hydrogen as an alternative fuel (Department for transport, 2020). This will help the UK
become a global leader in green hydrogen transport (Department for transport, 2020).
This report will focus on the following research question: What obstacles will occur in the UK
when transitioning from the current fossil fuel based public transport to hydrogen based
public transport?
Referentielijst:
BMW. (2020, 22 september). Hydrogen fuel cell cars: what you need to know | BMW.com.
BMW.com. https://www.bmw.com/en/innovation/how-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars-work.html
Department for Transport. (2020, 30 september). UK embraces hydrogen-fuelled future as
transport hub and train announced. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-
embraces-hydrogen-fuelled-future-as-transport-hub-and-train-announced
Ostred. (2019). Hydrogen [Foto]. safety4sea. https://safety4sea.com/seven-energy-and-
maritime-companies-collaborate-on-hydrogen/
Shell. (z.d.). Hydrogen cars hit the highway. Geraadpleegd op 11 november 2020, van
https://www.shell.com/inside-energy/hydrogen-cars-hit-the-highway.html
UNFCC. (2015). Paris Agreement.
https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/
english_paris_agreement.pdf
van Hoof, L. (2020, 10 september). The UK to become a pioneer in the development of
hydrogen fuel cell buses. Fuel Cell Electric Buses. https://www.fuelcellbuses.eu/public-
transport-hydrogen/uk-become-pioneer-development-hydrogen-fuel-cell-buses
Week 2:
This week you will learn more about the structural elements of an innovation system (Suurs
(2009) gives a particularly clear description of what this entails). The idea of structural
elements is important for your theory section, so you can already put in your own words what
this means. It is also important for your Methods section as you will need to describe how
you’ve identified the structure of your Innovation System. Finally, you will start mapping out
your innovation system. This means data collection and structuring your findings into an
Innovation Systems overview that will feed into your Analysis section. The bullets points
below give information on the steps that you can take to later incorporate into your
Deliverables: ‘Research Proposal’ and ‘Final TIS’.
,Note: The below word limits are indications for how to balance the chapters – you are free to
deviate from this. The indications for the overall Deliverables are leading.
1. Theory (+/- 300 words)
o Provide an accurate and very concise description of the essence of the structural part of
the TIS analysis and the relevant theoretical concepts in your own words.
o Please properly reference scientific articles.
An important part of doing a TIS analysis is mapping out the structure of said TIS. Wieczorek
and Hekkert (2012) define the structure of a TIS with four structural dimensions: Actors,
Institutions, Interactions and Infrastructure. These dimensions are made up of several
subcategories, which give a deeper understanding of what every dimension stands for. It is
important to note that these structural dimensions are static, which means that they consist
of mostly aspects or elements that don’t really change over time (Wieczorek and Hekkert
2012).
When mapping out the structure of a TIS, the dimensions give a clear picture of what and
who actually plays an important role in the system. The dimensions can be seen as the
building blocks of a TIS and without knowing all the blocks that play a role in it, it would be
impossible to identify all functions, relations or systemic problems in the TIS. Systemic
problems are ways in which the speed and direction of the innovation process are negatively
influenced (Wieczorek and Hekkert 2012). According to Wieczorek and Hekkert (2012)
systemic problems can be identified by making use of both structural and functional
analyses.
2. Method (+/- 200 words)
o Research approach: describe how you will map out the structure of the TIS. For
inspiration, see the research steps from Wieczorek and Hekkert (2012) (and from Bergek et
al. (2008).
o Data collection: describe how you have collected the data to map out the TIS. What kind of
data sources have you used? Have you used certain search engines, like GoogleScholar or
‘Nexis Uni’? You can use this link to get an overview of UU databases. Make sure to log in
through your UU account to get full access!
To map out the structure of our TIS we will make use of the five system components that
make up any TIS according to Wieczorek and Hekkert (2012). We will try to identify all
structural factors that play a role in our TIS and classify them into these five system
components. The identification of these structural factors we have done by reading scientific
papers found on Google Scholar or WorldCat. We frequently made use of sciencedirect, a
website on which peer-reviewed journals, articles and books can be found. In our search the
keywords or sentences we used were “Hydrogen fuel”, “Hydrogen fuel public transport UK”,
“Hydrogen buses UK” and “Green public transport UK”. We found actors and institutions in
articles from the UK government (national and local) and the European Union but also
through associations like the UK HFCA (UK hydrogen and fuel cell association).
3. System structure (+/- 1200 words)
o Use the four structural dimensions1 that Wieczorek and Hekkert (2012) discern to provide
an overview of the structure of your TIS (i.e. its actors, interactions, institutions and
infrastructure) – see ‘stage 1’ in their paper.
o Use a figure similar to figure 2 below (you can also use a more complex one), to provide
an overview of the system architecture. Make sure to put the relevant actor and institution
, names into the figure’s boxes. In other words, which actors and what institutions – within the
scope of your country – influence the development and diffusion of your technology?
Government
The Department of Transport
Her Majesty’s Government in the
UK
Supply chain Intermediary Demand side
infrastructure
Storage of the hydrogen The society of the UK
Transport of the hydrogen
Knowledge & investment infrastructure
The University of Birmingham Alston
Tees Valley
Arcola Energy & Optare group
BOC
Ballard Power systems
According to Hekkert and Wieczorek (2012) the structure of a TIS consist of four factors:
actors, interactions, institutions and infrastructure. In this paragraph, all the structural
elements of hydrogen public transport in the United Kingdom will be explained.
For analyzing the TIS there is a delineation in catogeries of actors based on their role in the
economic activity (Hekkert and Wieczorek, 2012). In the case of hydrogen public transport,
the following actors play a role:
- Government: As previously told in the introduction the Department of Transport is
involved in the uprising of hydrogen urban transport. The Department funds the HydroFLEX
program with a contribution of 23 million pounds.