Chemicals and energy business Sasol, BMW SA and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) will team up to launch a pilot fleet of green hydrogen-powered vehicles in SA.
The companies signed the collaboration agreement on Monday at the SA Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town to "bring hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and supporting hydrogen refuelling technology to SA".
It is part of an international trial to understand how the BMW iX5 Hydrogen performs in "real-world conditions".
Sasol, which started producing green hydrogen in June, will supply the fuel and a mobile refueller to support the trial.
Peter van Binsbergen, CEO of BMW SA, said the company hopes the pilot will "demonstrate the technical maturity of BMW’s fuel cell electric vehicle drive system, underscoring its potential for the future".
Hydrogen fuel cells convert chemical energy into electrical energy by combining hydrogen gas and oxygen to form water. Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells emit only water.
Price Gap
Unlike battery-powered electric vehicles, which take 30 minutes or more to achieve a driving range of roughly 400km, hydrogen fuel cell cars offer a driving experience similar to internal combustion engines. With a fuel capacity of 5kg-6kg, the car has a range of 500km and the fuel cell can be refuelled to full in about five minutes.
Van Binsbergen said the price gap for battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles compared with internal combustion engine vehicles will close by the early 2030s.
Sasol now produces 150kg of green hydrogen a day but it plans to use 69MW of wind energy it procured from Msenge Emoyeni Wind Farm in January, and which is expected to come online in 2024, to gradually ramp up production to about 5,500kg a day. Sasol has previously said it is exploring the possibility of obtaining as much as 3,000MW of renewable power to make 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen for export.
As part of developing a "green hydrogen mobility ecosystem", Sasol wants to initially target offering green hydrogen refuelling for heavy-duty vehicles that travel along SA’s main corridors, said Priscillah Mabelane, vice-president for Sasol’s energy business.
Sasol, she said, already has a network of assets along these important roads, and ultimately its fuel stations will be able to offer hydrogen refuelling.
The commercialisation of green hydrogen as a fuel source and fuel cell electric vehicles will depend on the cost of green hydrogen coming down from where it sits now at about $5/kg (R94/kg).
"Sasol does see the cost of sustainable solutions, like green hydrogen, being fundamental in the shift to [clean energy technologies]," Mabelane said.
As the technology and scale of green hydrogen continue to improve, costs are likely to come down to between $1/kg and $2/kg, she said.
The timelines to bring fuel cell electric vehicles to market are still uncertain, but Van Binsbergen said BMW would consider a small run of these vehicles towards the end of this decade.
The Minerals Council SA welcomed the announcement from Sasol, BMW and Amplats because the development of a green hydrogen sector in SA would generate demand for platinum group metals (PGMs), of which SA is the largest supplier in the world.
According to Amplats CEO Craig Miller, if hydrogen fuel cell vehicles achieved a penetration rate of 10% on the global car market, it would generate demand for 5-million ounces (140 tonnes) of PGMs a year.
This, said the Minerals Council, would help underpin job security for the 175,000 people employed in the PGM mining sector. SA’s production of PGMs in 2022 amounted to 269.5 tonnes, 5.5% lower than the 285.3 tonnes recorded in 2021.
erasmusd@businesslive.co.za
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