Against the backdrop of the conference on fuel cells in vehicles, the participants had the opportunity to view Empa’s mobility demonstrator "move" and watch a hydrogen vehicle being refueled.
Just how safe, sustainable and economical are hydrogen-powered vehicles? This was the question that around 300 experts and members of the interested public addressed during a conference held at Empa. While the safety of hydrogen vehicles has now been established, there is one crucial factor for the sustainability of the new technology: Where does the energy needed to produce the hydrogen come from? Fuel-cell vehicles are currently in a transition phase from research to application. The first car manufacturers are already offering hydrogen-powered vehicles - even though Switzerland still lacks a hydrogen filling station network. The developments in this field have captured the interest of a broad public, as the conference "Brennstoffzellen in automobilen Anwendungen" (Fuel Cells in Automobile Applications) held on January 26, 2016, revealed. Upon invitation of Empa, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), ETH Zurich and inspire AG top guest speakers talked about the production of hydrogen for mobility, its logistics, the market opportunities and the sustainability of using hydrogen as a fuel. Urs Elber, the Managing Director of Empa's Research Focus Area "Energy" and the Competence Center for Energy and Mobility at PSI, explained that sustainability and efficiency need to be considered in a system-wide context. Sustainability can only be achieved if the energy used to produce hydrogen stems from renewable sources.
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