Is This Leadership?

Thomas Jelenic, VP, PMSA

The challenges are not trivial.  First up, are the deadlines real?  California has a history of setting audacious goals, then moving the finish line.  That does not inspire confidence when a company must invest billions against an out-of-state competitor that does not have to make the same investment.
By sales, it would seem that most Californians feel that electric vehicles do not meet their driving needs or their budget constraints.  Scale that up to equipment that must move 80,000 pounds over steep grades and long distances and the technolofy limitations become more daunting.
Because of the years developing the passenger car market, battery technology has made significant progress.  Still, it is limited by range.  Worse, the cost of extended range for battery technology is linear.  The more range needed; the larger the battery needed.  While potentially more viable than battery electric, hydrogen is further behind in terms of technological development with additional concerns regarding fuel supply and price.
However, the growing interest in ZE technologies has spurred investment into alternative to battery electric.  There are a number of hydrogen demonstrations currently being conducted in the San Pedro Bay ports for both CHE and trucks.  Unlike battery electric, extending the range of hydrogen-powered CHE comes at the marginal cost for larger tanks, while hydrogen has operational characteristics similar to today’s existing operations that make it an attractive alternative.
The shore infrastructure capital program too a decade to implement.  Electrical infrastructure for battery-powered CHE will likely require infrastructure five times the scale of shore power.  Hydrogen fueled equipment will not need any of this infrastructure, instead utilizing shared infrastructure similar to today’s diesel infrastructure.
Is it possible that both vessels and marine terminals that serve them move toward a mutual hydrogen economy to solve the question of resolving greenhouse gas emissions?  Nobody today probably knows the answer.  In California, though, the question has been reduced to:  do we have time to determine the answer?  Unfortunately, a clock, set by political expediency, is ticking.