Australians’ Considerations for Use of Hydrogen in the Transport Sector

Hydrogen fuel cells power a range of vehicles including cars, buses, trucks, forklifts and even trains. As fuel cell electric vehicles emit no carbon emissions and only produce water vapor as a by-product, they present an attractive option for countries who are experiencing high pollution from transport. This paper presents the findings of ten focus groups and a subset of a national survey which focused specifically on use of hydrogen in the transport sector (N=948). When discussing hydrogen transport options, Australian focus group participants felt that rolling out hydrogen fuel cell buses as a first step for fuel cell electric vehicle deployment would be a good way to increase familiarity with the technology. Deploying hydrogen public transport vehicles before personal vehicles was thought to be a positive way to demonstrate the safe use of hydrogen and build confidence in the technology. At the same time, it was felt it would allow any issues to be ironed out before the roll out of large-scale infrastructure on a to support domestic use. Long haul trucks were also perceived to be a good idea however, safety issues were raised in the focus groups when discussing these vehicles. Survey respondents also expressed positive support for the use of hydrogen fuel cell buses and long-haul trucks. They reported being happy to be a passenger in a fuel cell bus. Safety and environmental benefits remained paramount with cost considerations being the third most important issue. Respondents supportive of hydrogen technologies were most likely to report purchasing a hydrogen vehicle over other options