[Upcoming Hydrogen Economy] "5 Minutes to Fill 6kg Completely"... Visiting Hydrogen Stations as Hydrogen Gets More Expensive

Hydrogen Prices Rise... Burden on Customers and Stations
E1 Imports Clean Hydrogen from Canada for Price Stability
"4th Hydrogen Station Planned in Gwangju... Business Expansion"

On the 28th of last month, I visited the E1 hydrogen, electric, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) combined charging station located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. This is the frontline where consumers meet at the end of the hydrogen economy cycle. On a spacious site of about 3,300㎡ (1,000 pyeong), there is one hydrogen dispenser, four LPG chargers, one electric vehicle charger, and a self-service car wash. The LPG charging business has been operating since August 2006, and hydrogen charging started in July last year.

On the 28th of last month, an employee is seen refueling a hydrogen car at the E1 Complex Charging Station in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
Photo by Choi Seoyoon

About 10 minutes after arriving at the station, a hydrogen electric vehicle Nexo pulled in. An employee who was charging an LPG vehicle hurried over. “How much would you like to fill?” Hydrogen cars are difficult to self-charge. Although those who complete the Korea Gas Safety Corporation's online training can self-charge hydrogen at designated stations, there are not many designated stations, and few people have completed the training. This station is not a designated station either.

By 3 p.m., the queue of vehicles waiting to charge had grown to three. Kim Jong-gi, the manager of the E1 Gwacheon combined charging station, said, “At the peak, there were about 70 vehicles, but these days, about 40 hydrogen cars come to charge daily on average.”

Hydrogen vehicles waiting to be charged at the E1 Complex Charging Station in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on the 28th of last month. The Hyundai Nexo is the only domestic hydrogen vehicle model. Behind the hydrogen charger on the right side in the photo is the tube trailer storage.
[Photo by Choi Seoyoon]

One Nexo can hold up to 6 kg of gaseous hydrogen. There are currently no places in Korea that charge with liquefied hydrogen. A station employee said, “Drivers usually fill up to 6 kg at a time,” and “the full charging time is about 5 minutes.” Hydrogen cars have shorter charging times and better fuel efficiency than electric vehicles. With one full charge, the Nexo can travel 609 km, while electric vehicles (based on the Ioniq 6) travel between 367 and 524 km. Government subsidies are also higher for hydrogen cars than for electric vehicles. When purchasing a Nexo (69.5 million KRW), buyers receive a national subsidy of 22.5 million KRW plus additional local government support (up to 15 million KRW). Based on Seoul, the hydrogen car subsidy is 32.5 million KRW, while the electric vehicle subsidy is 8.6 million KRW.

However, with hydrogen prices rising recently, both customers and charging stations are facing growing concerns. Choi Jin-woo, who visited the station, said, “I switched to a hydrogen car a year ago because I heard there were many government supports, but the maintenance costs are higher than expected,” adding, “Until recently, the price was 8,800 KRW per kg, but it quickly rose to 9,900 KRW.” He continued, “They say it will rise again, so who would buy a hydrogen car then?”

The entrance view of the E1 complex charging station on the 28th of last month. On that day, the hydrogen price was 9,900 KRW per kilogram.
[Photo by Choi Seoyoon]

It is necessary to find an appropriate margin between purchase and selling prices, but it is not easy. Kim Jong-gi, the station manager, said, “Sales volume is still low, but the purchase price of hydrogen is getting more expensive, making it difficult to expect a margin,” adding, “Hydrogen supply varies by season, so to secure economic feasibility, we need to find ways to reduce production costs.” The government compensates up to 80% of the losses for hydrogen charging station operators to promote the hydrogen economy. The Gwacheon hydrogen station receives by-product hydrogen supplied from Changshin Chemical's Daesan plant.

To lower hydrogen prices, E1 has decided to secure additional hydrogen supply from overseas. They plan to import 1 million tons annually of clean hydrogen produced in Canada, converted into ammonia, starting in 2028. To this end, they recently invested 9.7 billion KRW in a blue ammonia production project in Canada.

Hydrogen refueling nozzle. Since hydrogen at temperatures between minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius is injected into the vehicle, improper handling of the nozzle can cause frostbite.
[Photo by Choi Seoyoon]

Installing one hydrogen dispenser costs about 4 billion KRW, of which 1.5 billion KRW is supported by the government. The installation period is six months. The installation includes the dispenser, compressor, compression facilities, cooler, and tube trailer storage. Hydrogen is extracted from the tube trailer, adjusted to medium and high pressure by the compressor, and then injected into the vehicle through the dispenser.

Hydrogen tube trailer loaded on a truck
Photo by Choi Seoyoon

A tube trailer refers to a gas cylinder containing hydrogen, similar to a household gray LPG cylinder. Unlike LPG cylinders that contain liquid, the orange hydrogen cylinders contain gaseous hydrogen. Because it is gas, the cylinders are large. The volume of gaseous hydrogen is 800 times that of liquid hydrogen. One 10-meter-long tube trailer holds 20 kg of hydrogen. At the Gwacheon station, a truck carrying 10 tube trailers (200 kg) arrives once a day. Empty tube trailers are detached and replaced with fully filled ones. The replacement takes about 20 minutes on average.

The black gas pipe connecting the compressed hydrogen stored in the tube trailer (left) to the compressor [Photo by Choi Seoyoon]

Therefore, inventory management is difficult. Manager Kim said, “We have to order hydrogen for the next day by 5 p.m. every day, but it is hard to predict when the inventory will run out,” adding, “Even if the tube trailer truck arrives, if there is still inventory left, we cannot replace it immediately.” On this day, a hydrogen charging vehicle arrived at 12:40 p.m., but the replacement work was done around 2:30 p.m. after waiting for the inventory to be depleted. He said, “During the tube trailer replacement, customers cannot charge hydrogen, so waiting times occur.” The introduction of liquefied hydrogen is urgent from the perspective of operating charging stations because it allows reliable inventory management like LPG. It is also regrettable that there are fewer hydrogen charging stations compared to hydrogen cars. As of the end of last year, there were 29,733 hydrogen cars in Korea, but only 229 hydrogen charging stations.

Hydrogen Charger at Gyeonggi Gwacheon E1 Complex Charging Station
Photo by Choi Seoyoon

E1 also operates hydrogen charging stations in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province. The company is preparing to install its fourth hydrogen charging station in Gwangju. In the mid-to-long term, E1 plans to expand its business across the entire value chain from upstream to downstream in the hydrogen economy. An E1 official said, “We have been in the LPG business for almost 40 years, but we are expanding into new businesses in eco-friendly energy,” adding, “We are considering various hydrogen-related businesses such as building a clean hydrogen (ammonia) supply base for mixed-fuel power generation hydrogen supply, hydrogen shipment centers, and fuel cell power generation projects.”