Hydrogen Is Dangerous, Just Like Any Other Fuel
70 ǀ POSITIV HYDROGEN
VODÍK
Hydrogen Is Dangerous,
Just Like Any Other Fuel
Jablonec-based DEVINN is one of the most prominent Czech companies in the eld of hydrogen
technologies. It was involved in the development of the rst Czech hydrogen-powered truck
built on a Tatra chassis, as well as the refuelling staon capable of lling it with hydrogen. We
spoke to the company’s founder, Luboš Hajský, and Technical Director Karel Souček about why
the hydrogen market has yet to take o and where hydrogen makes more sense than baeries.
Could you introduce DEVINN to our readers
and explain what you do?
Luboš Hajský: We are a development company that
I founded with my wife twelve years ago. We set
ourselves the goal of helping the Czech economy
by creating high-value-added products developed here
in the Czech Republic. It is an ambitious goal, and one
we intend to pursue over the long term.
Hydrogen is one of the areas and market opportunities
we are focusing on. There is less competition
in emerging fields. The fact that we do not yet fully
understand the technology may look like a risk
from the outside, but for us it is a challenge – and that
is exactly what we enjoy.
Projects are not developing as quickly as we
imagined they would a few years ago. Where do you
see the main barriers? Are technological limitations,
economics or regulation the main issue?
Karel Souček: All three of these aspects are
interconnected. Ultimately, however, they have
a common denominator: economics.
With battery electric mobility, which is also a route
towards decarbonisation, we do not currently
concern ourselves, for example, with the energy mix
of the electricity we draw from the grid. With hydrogen,
however, we have stipulated that it must be green
from the outset, meaning that it has to be produced
at a higher cost, rather than allowing the use
of cheaper hydrogen, for example, which could enable
the technology to be deployed sooner in practice.
Then there is the technology itself. It is ready. There
is no doubt that it works or that there is a sufficient range
of solutions to choose from. Today, it is possible to build
almost anything. Over the course of our work, we have
integrated nearly ten different fuel cells with an output
of around 50 kW, so we have a clear overview and can
say that the technology really is ready.
Municipal bus fleets are a typical example. If a city, which
has a duty to manage public resources responsibly,
looks purely at the economics, then hydrogen will very
often not make sense under today’s conditions.
Ultimately, then, it is the economics that brings
the whole process to a halt. Those who want to produce
hydrogen have no customers to buy it. The market has
not yet developed – or rather, it is developing very
slowly. And that is currently the fundamental obstacle
to the development of hydrogen technologies.
Do you see battery electric and hydrogen mobility as
competing or complementary technologies?
Karel Souček: Once we start looking at vehicles larger
than passenger cars – vans over 3.5 tonnes, lorries,
trains, buses or aircraft – hydrogen as an energy carrier
is much more similar to the fossil fuels we use today
and, for the time being, offers greater advantages than
| Text: Veronika Vohlídková, Matěj Ohanka, foto: DEVINN
podpořen ze státního rozpočtu.
Součástí projektu je i plnicí stanice. Pro DEVINN je
určitým pomyslným poplácáním po rameni to, že jsme
dodali kompletní řešení. Jak vodíkovou část automobilu,
tak zařízení, které ho dokáže naplnit. Naštěstí se poda-
řilo zajistit také pokračování projektu. Již nyní vzniká
druhá vodíková Tatra.
Kolem vodíku se často objevuje obava, že je
nebezpečný a vybuchuje. Máme se ho bát?
Karel Souček: Ano, vodík je nebezpečný stejně jako
každé jiné palivo, protože je to koncentrovaná energie.
Kanystr s benzínem je také velmi nebezpečný. Není
ale důvod démonizovat ho jako něco výrazně nebez-
pečnějšího, než jsou jiné technologie, které lidstvo běž-
ně používá.
I když dojde k nějakému drobnému úniku, jednou z vlast-
ností vodíku je, že se velmi rychle rozptýlí. Nedojde tak
snadno ke koncentraci, která by byla výbušná.
Luboš Hajský: Já často používám jednoduchou parale-
lu: každý den posadíme na zadní sedačku auta své děti
a deset centimetrů od nich máme padesát litrů vysoce
hořlavého benzínu. A prakticky se nad tím nezamýšlí-
me. Ty technologie se prostě dají zvládnout a jako lid-
stvo s nimi technicky umíme bezpečně pracovat.