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Ministry of Trade and Industry
3. Parliamentary replies

Parliament Sitting on 6 March 06: Question No 375 for Written Answer - Assoc Prof Ong Soh Khim: Hydrogen-Powered Fuel

6 March 2006

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Question No 375 for Written Answer

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Assoc Prof Ong Soh Khim, Nominated Member

Question
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry with regard to promoting energy efficient green vehicles such as those using hydrogen as fuel, what are the Ministry’s efforts in (i) finding commercially viable ways of supplying hydrogen safely on a larger scale; and (ii) sourcing for hydrogen refueling projects in Singapore.

Answer
Currently, hydrogen as a transport fuel is still very costly compared with traditional fuels like diesel and gasoline. This is due to the high manufacturing cost of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, technological barriers in hydrogen storage, and start-up cost of the hydrogen distribution infrastructure. While the technology to supply hydrogen safely on a large scale is available, it is still not commercially viable.

Despite its advantages in being more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles still cost on average 10 to 20 times that of conventional vehicles. The automotive industry expects to produce commercially viable hydrogen fuel cell vehicles only 10 to 15 years from now. Similarly, hydrogen refueling is also not commercially viable at present due to the lack of a critical mass of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Therefore, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are being promoted more for research and test-bedding activity rather than for wide-scale adoption. For example, automotive firm Daimler Chrysler is currently test bedding six hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Singapore’s tropical urban environment. BP Singapore has also set up two hydrogen refueling stations to evaluate the commercial application of hydrogen infrastructure.

Going forward, the Economic Development Board (EDB) will continue to attract investments that will reinforce Singapore’s position as a global center for test-bedding new technologies, including that of hydrogen infrastructure.