Hydrogen

1. 1. Clean hydrogen: the great hope

   → Green hydrogen — produced by using renewable energy to separate oxygen and hydrogen from water (known as “electrolysis”) — is still facing significant cost barriers.

   → Startups are now improving the efficiency of existing electrolysers primarily through advanced materials. There’s a lot of ground to make up: green hydrogen accounts for about 1% of global hydrogen supply.

2. 2. Hydrogen is hot. That’s a problem

   → Its high flammability and low density make hydrogen challenging to transport (you can’t just shove it down ordinary gas pipes), requiring either compression, liquefaction or conversion.

   → Startups are building both high-pressure and cryogenic tanks to store hydrogen as a gas or liquid, respectively, and working on new so-called carrier molecules for its transportation.

3. 3. Powering transport

   → When it comes to transport, hydrogen lags electrification in round-trip efficiency — but it addresses electric batteries’ long recharging times and heaviness. This makes it particularly suitable for heavy and high- energy transport like trucks, ships and planes.

   → Unlocking this potential requires high-quality and affordable fuel cells, as well as processes to automate their manufacturing and further drive down costs.

4. 4. With hydrogen, it’s go big or go home

   → Developing the tech to produce, transport and use hydrogen will ultimately depend on broader supporting infrastructure.

   → This includes both solutions to more easily reach economies of scale, like electrolyser gigafactories, and solutions to support uptake, like refueling networks.

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