Hyundai Motor Group recently announced their hydrogen infrastructure establishment plan.

Hyundai Motor Group recently got together with the government, local governments, energy industry, etc. to acquire hydrogen infrastructure. The plan is to establish hydrogen energy infrastructure in Korean commercial vehicle market by establishing additional gas-type commercial vehicle hydrogen stations and liquid-type hydrogen stations until 2023. We looked into the importance of acquiring hydrogen infrastructure in the hydrogen economy society and what Hyundai Motor Group was doing to realize it.

Hydrogen Economy’s Artery the Whole World is Focused On; Hydrogen Infrastructure

Recently hydrogen is receiving attention as the eco-friendly future energy.

Hydrogen energy is called the future energy. The Hydrogen Council, which involves global automobile enterprises and major energy enterprises, expected through the ‘Hydrogen, Scaling up’ report that hydrogen energy would take up about 20% of global energy demand by 2050, which would reduce about 6 billion tons of CO2 yearly. It shows how hydrogen is advantageous as an eco-friendly energy.

As we enter the hydrogen economy era, many countries around the world are paying attention to establishing a hydrogen supply network (data source. Nikkei BP CleanTech Institute).

As an interest in hydrogen economy is growing, major countries are focusing on a hydrogen supply network, which is receiving attention as the power source of hydrogen energy; in other words, establishing pipelines. China announced it would supply 1 million electric cars by 2030 and install 1000 hydrogen stations, while Japan set up a strategy to establish an international hydrogen import network by 2030. According to Nikkei BP CleanTech Institute’s ‘a comprehensive survey on world hydrogen infrastructure projects,’ the size of global hydrogen infrastructure market is expected to grow to 20 trillion yen in 2025, 59 trillion yen in 2035, and 160 trillion yen in 2050. How is Korea doing while the whole world is focusing on the establishment of hydrogen infrastructure?

Hyundai Glovis, Currently Establishing a Platform for Optimum Management of Hydrogen Supply Network

Hyundai Glovis is currently establishing a platform for optimum management of hydrogen supply network.

In October 2020, the Federation of Korean Industries announced results saying that “Korea is leading the utilization aspect of the hydrogen economy value chain such as hydrogen electric cars, fuel battery development, etc., whereas in other areas, there are technical gaps compared to major leading countries, and it also lacks infrastructure like charging stations, etc.” As aforementioned, acquiring hydrogen infrastructure is a must if we are to revive the hydrogen economy. Without infrastructure, we can’t be assured of the hydrogen economy’s success. To complement this situation, Korea is swiftly acquiring hydrogen supply network infrastructure.

Hyundai Motors, Hyundai Glovis, and Hyundai Steel made a business agreement with related companies to ensure smooth hydrogen distribution through the establishment of hydrogen infrastructure.

Recently Hyundai Glovis signed the 'MOU for development of hydrogen distribution industry for hydrogen cars' with the hydrogen energy network business Hynet, Hyundai Steel, Hyundai Motors, Korea Gas Corporation, SPG, etc. When establishing a platform for optimum management of hydrogen supply network, it will allow hydrogen produced in Dangjin Hyundai Steel to be transported to Hynet hydrogen stations in the Seoul metropolitan area and Chungcheong province by the hydrogen exclusive special vehicle, Tube Trailer. It can transport up to 340kg in one go.

A platform for optimum management of hydrogen supply network will allow efficient distribution management.

Hydrogen supply network business will be in full swing in the first half of 2021. Currently hydrogen transportation does not assure smooth provision of hydrogen as information for each stage of hydrogen production, transport, and consumption is not connected to one another while unnecessary transportation costs also rose. Through the ‘hydrogen supply network optimum management platform,’ hydrogen can be supplied to the desired places at desired times, enhancing distribution efficiency.

Operation data produced in each stage such as hydrogen remains in charging stations, Tube Trailer operation status, daily hydrogen shipment, etc. will be connected via network, allowing establishment of optimum charging supply plan using the collected data. This will lead to cutting distribution costs, and actual users’ hydrogen charging unit cost is expected to decrease by about 20% compared to now. Systematic management of hydrogen is also likely to relieve misunderstandings about its risk. Through the safety management system, vehicle location, sudden speeding, emergency situations, etc. can be managed to prevent any accidents while an integrated terminal can be installed on the operated vehicle to prevent any risk factors. Hyundai Glovis plans to establish a hydrogen supply network for charging stations within 150km from Dangjin while applying the system to the whole country in the future to establish a thorough supply network for all regions.

Hyundai Glovis is working with Hyundai Heavy Industries Group to lead the development of large size liquid hydrogen transportation ships to occupy the global hydrogen marine transportation market in advance. Once a liquid hydrogen transportation ship is developed, it will be equipped with core transport capacity in the marine hydrogen provision infrastructure establishment process.

Germany is expanding their hydrogen infrastructure through a government led plan.

Internationally, Germany, a traditional strong automobile country, is most aggressive in acquiring hydrogen infrastructure. Germany started to expand their hydrogen infrastructure through a government led plan rather than by an individual enterprise. The German government has been carrying out the federal government-led ‘National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, NIP’ since 2007 to construct hydrogen infrastructure. They have supported 500 million euros in establishing the foundation for hydrogen infrastructure from 2007 to 2016 and plan to pursue the secondary project from 2016 to 2025 for the development of technology for mass distribution, infrastructure establishment, etc.

When looking over the areas of the program, you can see how they are pushing forward infrastructure facilities required for fuel provision and maintenance. It is consisted of infrastructure required for hydrogen fuel equipment related fuel provision and maintenance, infrastructure required for special transportation vehicle related fuel provision and maintenance, investment subsidy for energy supply for shipments, vehicles, and airplanes, investment subsidy for public hydrogen fuel supply facilities, etc. The aggressive support from the German government led to a positive effect in cutting down hydrogen production costs and acquiring infrastructure; it is likely that it will contribute to the government led hydrogen economy revival.

The Competition for Hydrogen Economy is Getting More and More Fierce.

Private corporations and government will have to get aggressive in acquiring infrastructure to lead the related market and also to realize hydrogen economy.

There is no doubt that the most important thing to make speedy hydrogen economy realization is acquiring infrastructure. That’s why there are domestic and international efforts to establish stable hydrogen supply network to lead the hydrogen economy. As solid distribution network is required for a commerce company to do well in the long run, a leading hydrogen economy country must have competitive distribution system to maintain the status. At this point we need to recognize that hydrogen infrastructure is a must growth factor in hydrogen mobility economy for a country, and interest and affection is required from all interested parties; the industry, government, civil society, consumers, etc.

Written by. Min Joon-hong (Connecting Lab)