These products have been available in the market for many years. The cost per kg varies with the electrolyzer size from approximately $6/kg to $15/kg and is heavily dependent on the cost of electricity. At the lower end of this range, the cost of electrolytically produced hydrogen at a typical station is equivalent to gasoline on a miles basis (approximately $3-$5/gallon of gasoline equivalent) if used in a FCEV.
Small-scale SMR units are also available commercially and can be economically attractive for industrial applications requiring 1,000 kg/day or greater when the customer site is a significant distance from a central SMR plant. At modest production rates (500 units/year) it is estimated that these units can produce hydrogen at approximately $3-$6/kg.
Industrial applications for distributed hydrogen production include food processing, metals, glass, fertilizer production, electric power plant generator cooling, semiconductor manufacturing, analytic laboratory instrumentation, and various meteorological applications.
Vehicle fueling stations (of which there are 60 in the United States and over 200 worldwide) have used all of the technologies mentioned above. .
The principal barrier to cost reduction of distributed hydrogen production systems for vehicle applications is achieving manufacturing scale. Although markets exist for distributed applications, they are relatively small at present and are most attractive for base load and consistent demand requirements. However, the current FCEV fleets are too small and do not meet these demand requirements. For these existing markets, the payback time for investments in product cost reduction is too long to be commercially attractive.
Manufacturers generally agree that they face a classic dilemma, even when they can demonstrate cost effectiveness against current fueling options as well as other benefits (e.g. less carbon dioxide on a miles basis).
