Conventional forms of truck delivery (ambient temperature compressed H2 gas at ~2600 psi or liquid hydrogen (LH2) cooled to 20 K) represent extreme regions of temperature and density within the hydrogen phase diagram. Delivering hydrogen in today's low capacity compressed H2 tube trailers is expensive. Substantial cost reductions appear possible with development of advanced pressure vessels and/or a broadened range of thermodynamic conditions under which H2 is trucked and delivered.

Here we report interim analysis results of both approaches to reduce the cost of hydrogen truck delivery to $0.50/kg H2 or less using H2A based analyses provided by DOE. These savings are based on the compounding of four factors (volumetric efficiency, increased storage pressure, reduced temperature, and higher strength of glass fiber at low temperature) relative to conventional tube trailers. Based on these results, on a preliminary basis, we can recommend hydrogen truck delivery carrying hydrogen gas at pressures as high as 10,000 psi, cooled to approximately 200 Kelvin (-73 degrees Celsius) in glass fiber vessels. Later thermodynamic and infrastructure analyses will refine these conditions based on refueling station operation parameters and ranges of H2A economic assumptions.