About 55 percent commercial vehicle operators said they are willing to switch to hydrogen-fuelled vehicles if the operating costs are not 20 percent higher than the existing ones, a survey has found.
The Automotive Platforms and Application Systems R&D Centre suggested the government offering incentives including subsidies and low rental rates to operators.
Hydrogen, which produces water, is regarded as a clean fuel to help contribute to the net zero target. However, the high cost and flammable quality are the drawbacks.
Lawrence Cheung, chief executive of the APAS said hydrogen costs about HK$100 per kilogram in Hong Kong, which is three times that of mainland China, where subsidies are offered.
Four in five of the polled respondents think that hydrogen-powered vehicles can be safely used if international standards are followed.
The APAS, as part of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, commissioned the City University of Hong Kong to conduct the survey with 88 industry stakeholders in August and September.
Hong Kong has an advantage to further use hydrogen as the technology adopted pressure swing adsorption to obtain the fuel from a mixture of gas is quite mature and Towngas (0003) has a comprehensive pipe network, said Ng Yun-hau, director of the Low-Carbon and Climate Impact Research Centre, School of Energy and Environment.
The natural gas that Towngas used contains hydrogen and its pipe is strong enough for the transmission, added Cheung, who revealed that the government will have a more comprehensive report on hydrogen use in the city released next year.
