Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Automobile switch to HFCs due to fuel price surge: The increasing exploitation of fossil fuels releases several harmful gases into the environment which will necessities HFCs in the coming years. Moreover, the price of diesel and motor gasoline showed a tremendous gain of 55% and 40% respectively from January to June 2022 as stated by the United States Department of Transportation. Credited to this automotive are being influenced and switching towards the adoption and growing use of HFCs.
  
  There is also a high demand for minimizing the dependability on oil and diesel globally while prioritizing the need for decarbonization. According to the International Energy Agency 2023, with a 1.8% or 261 Mt (metric tons) increase in emissions in 2022, the production of heat and electricity accounted for the largest growth in emissions. Meanwhile, emerging economies such as Asia led the global increase in emissions from coal-fired electricity and heat generation, which increased by 224 Mt or 2.1%. The gas engine share has increased, augmented by the automotive shift towards sustainability.

• Demand for mobile and backup power generation: Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are highly used in stationary and mobile fuel cells due to their continuous supply of power. Data centers and Hospitals are demanding UPS to meet their power demand. For instance, Microsoft published a report in July 2022, stating that their HFCs help the data centers to be operational 99.999% of the time. They also launched a sustainable datacenter region in Sweden in November 2021, which consists of 50% of renewable raw material.
  
  Additionally, various mobile HFCs were developed by NASA, especially for providing electricity to shuttles and rockets in space. In January 2022, General Motors announced the launch of their HYDROTEC fuel cell technology, useful for locomotives, aerospace, and heavy-duty trucks. Furthermore, General Motors is also planning to expand its usage of power generation.

Challenges

• High initial investment & production cost: Steam methane reforming is the most widely used method of producing hydrogen. It is relatively affordable, but it is not environmentally friendly. This has an impact on many stages of the hydrogen value chain, including infrastructure development and production. Furthermore, due to its advanced technology and energy requirements, green hydrogen production, which includes electrolysis powered by renewable energy is expensive but also more environmentally friendly.

• Volatile raw material: A major issue that is anticipated to limit the expansion of the global hydrogen fuel cell market revenue is its high cost of production. For instance, the preferred electric power trains that do not emit greenhouse gases, particulate matter, or other dangerous pollutants like nitrogen oxides from their exhaust use HFC technology which is expensive compared to other fuels like diesel. Owing to this the landscape is slated to be constrained by their high production and raw material costs.