Aramco owns and operates the first hydrogen fueling vehicle station in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. This experimental station supplies high-purity compressed hydrogen to an initial fleet of Toyota electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. This is one of the solutions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions on the road. Instead of a car battery, there is a cell that interacts with hydrogen to generate electricity and exiting water from the exhaust system, which are the only emissions of hydrogen cars.
Hydrogen cars are characterized by ease of driving and without noise, and after refueling they can travel a distance of up to 600 km, as every one kilogram of fuel enables the car to travel 100 km without emissions except for water. In addition to Toyota, other companies have entered the field including Honda, Mercedes and Hyundai.
International Energy Agency reports point to hydrogen fuel as a good source of low carbon energy. There is an increasing international consensus on the benefits of this fuel due to its enormous potential to reduce carbon emissions from various sectors. IEA also urges the countries to meet the challenges that impede the promotion of the use of hydrogen fuel as a potential source of energy free of emissions, and that its use as a fuel will contribute to reducing emissions in sectors such as transportation, chemicals, and steel. The agency expects the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable energy to decrease by 30% by 2030.
However, the agency warns of the challenges facing the opportunities to benefit from hydrogen as an energy source, including the high cost, in addition to the fact that the hydrogen gas itself is volatile and highly flammable. The agency recommends the development of policies to support the new investments needed to reduce costs and support this industry, noting that hydrogen has not previously received such international attention from various sectors.