The Queensland Government have announced their intentions to phase out petrol-fuelled vehicles by 2028, with five hydrogen-powered cars to be added to its fleet.

The trial, which will commence next year, is part of the State Government’s $19 million Queensland Hydrogen Industry Strategy which also includes the development of a renewable hydrogen plant.

The revolutionary fleet will be made up of Hyundai Nexo and Toyota Mirai vehicles in the initial phase of the trial.

While hydrogen-powered vehicles are viewed as one of the greenest options available, numerous issues have stood in the way of the technology being mass produced thus far.

The cost of sourcing and transporting the fuel-source is expensive, and with minimal locations to store the resource once it has been captured, it has not been viable to this point.

On top of that, there are currently no hydrogen refuelling stations available in Queensland.

It is estimated that hydrogen-powered vehicles could cost between $77,000 – $90,000.

The Queensland Government are looking to tackle these issues, with a $3.1 million renewable hydrogen plant set to be built at Bulwer Island to lower the cost of transporting the source. They have also partnered with the Queensland University of Technology to deliver the first re-fuelling station to Queensland.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk trialled a hydrogen-powered vehicle on her recent trip to Berlin, and understands the need for re-fuelling technology to be heavily invested in for the project to take off in Queensland.

“I know that for this industry to take off, especially in relation to the vehicle industry, we need to have more hydrogen refuelling stations around the city,” said Palaszczuk.

“That’s the key, that would be the next stage.”

The Queensland ministerial fleet has been preparing for a move to a cleaner vehicle fleet for a while now.

In December last year, it was announced that a Hyundai IONIQ EVE had been added, the first electric vehicle to be added to the fleet.

Hyundai future mobility senior manager, Scott Nargar, has said that other customers are already lining up to bring hydrogen cars to Brisbane roads.

“We know some of our customers in the research and universities, and some of the industrial customers, are all looking forward to taking hydrogen cars into their fleets,” said Nargar.

“It’d be in the 10s and 20s to start off with and then we’ll build up from there.”

Nargar also said the price of refuelling hydrogen vehicles will come down as more infrastructure is built and more cars sold. It currently costs approximately $AUD16.40 a kilogram in Europe to refuel a hydrogen car.

“So it’s equivalent to petrol and that becomes cheaper when more stations come on – the more competition, the cheaper the fuel becomes.”

Discussions on where the hydrogen vehicles will be deployed in the Queensland Government fleet are ongoing.

Original source: The Age | Hydrogen cars to be added to government’s fleet in next step to phasing out petrol

28 Aug 2019