Detroit is exploring hydrogen as a clean fossil fuel alternative
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Detroit's government aims to become a leader in promoting hydrogen as a clean fossil fuel alternative for transportation.
The big picture: The Motor City has the "tools, talent and local use cases" to shape conversations around the use of hydrogen to complement the U.S.' EV future, the Detroit mobility innovation office said this month in a report published on the city's website.
- The city is working alongside the state, which is part of a $1 billion federally funded Midwest clean hydrogen project announced last year. The Biden administration announced $7 billion for seven regional hydrogen production hubs.
State of play: Detroit's automotive history, focus on mobility innovation and busy freight connection with Canada make it an ideal spot for clean hydrogen tech development, the report says.
- The city is seeking hydrogen-related businesses to partner with Detroit and is offering to help build out the workforce, as well as support permitting, site selection, deployment and testing.
- The city's mobility office declined to discuss the report.
How it works: Hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity by mixing hydrogen and air, with water vapor as the only byproduct.
- Using hydrogen as a transportation fuel has begun with heavy-duty uses like long-haul trucking. It's a climate-friendly solution that offers a longer driving range than traditional EV batteries and refuels faster than recharging.
- Hydrogen fuel cells have faced challenges taking off, including its cost to produce cleanly, storage issues and that wider use would require nationwide refueling infrastructure, Alauddin Ahmed, a U of M associate research scientist whose specialties include energy storage, tells Axios.
Catch up quick: After decades of unfulfilled hype, the outlook for the success of hydrogen-powered vehicles in the U.S. is improving with recent federal support and increased private investment.
- GM, for example, started producing hydrogen fuel cells with Honda in Brownstown Township. In July, Detroit received $30.8 million in federal funds for its first four hydrogen fuel-cell-powered buses and 21 hybrids.
Context: Michigan also pursues hydrogen-related business and public investment, including working with public utilities and clean hydrogen companies.
- Zachary Kolodin, the state's chief infrastructure officer, tells Axios that the Midwest clean hydrogen hub is "phase one" of Michigan's hydrogen strategy. The funding would help develop supply chains for heavy-duty vehicles.
- Kolodin says that as part of this hub effort, the state and partners, including Detroit, are beginning to develop a "Truck Stop of the Future" that would showcase clean hydrogen refueling.
Zoom in: Verne, a San Francisco-based startup making high-density hydrogen storage technology for heavy trucking, has shown interest in Detroit.
- Verne is a portfolio company of Newlab, an inventor and investment platform that opened a mobility innovation lab here last year with Michigan Central.
- Verne co-founder and CEO Ted McKlveen tells Axios that the company is considering the region for its manufacturing facility and wants to contribute to building out the "Truck Stop of the Future" in the Detroit area.
- "There's hydrogen refueling stations, but there's no futuristic demo spots to try new pumps, try new trucks … so that's where we think this could be a pretty catalytic use of public funding," McKlveen says.