Stepping away from fossil fuels, al

Stepping away from fossil fuels, also called decarbonisation, is a burning topic all over the world. Since traffic is a main contributor to CO2 emissions, electromobility is being widely considered and studied. Recently, many studies have shown possible routes to 100% decarbonisation. One study, published by FVV, shows three scenarios that could make this happen. The scenarios are shown in Figure 2. Electric energy can be provided to the vehicle from a battery or from hydrogen converted in a fuel cell, or the vehicle can be powered conventionally with E-Fuel. It needs to be mentioned that the study assumes that current state-of-the-art batteries are not an option for trucks. If they run electrically, they also could be powered by overhead wiring.Due to the volatility of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, storage is the key technology to be solved. As power needs to be provided all year round, a high amount of energy needs to be stored for a longer period (seasonal). A comparison of different technologies is shown in Figure 3. For a sustainable move to renewable energy, a seasonal storage of large amounts of energy is needed. Batteries are only good for the storage of a maximum of a day’s demand. Seasonal storage must follow the H2 route, at least as an intermediate product. Even with pumped hydro or compressed air storage, solar energy can’t be harvested in summer and stored for the winter.