TAnk HYdrogen Automotive

Project Information

TAHYA

Grant agreement ID: 779644

DOI

10.3030/779644

Project closed

EC signature date 8 December 2017

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 30 June 2021

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 3 996 943,75

EU contribution

€ 3 996 943,75

Coordinated by

OPTIMUM CPV
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - TAHYA (TAnk HYdrogen Automotive)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

While automakers have demonstrated progress with prototypes and commercial vehicles traveling greater than 500 km on a single fill, this driving range must be achievable across different vehicle makes and models and without compromising customer expectations of space, performance, safety, or cost. The TAHYA project, mainly led by industrial partners -already involved in producing and manufacturing hydrogen solutions for the automotive and aviation industry-, will focus on the development of a complete, competitive and innovative European H2 storage system (a cylinder with a mounted On-Tank-Valve with all integrated functionalities) for automotive applications up-performing the actual Asian and US ones.
The TAHYA consortium composed of Optimum CPV, Anleg, Raigi, Volkswagen, Chemnitz University of Technology, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, PolarixParner and Absiskey will ensure that the development phase of the storage system remain in line with the expectations (cost, performance and safety) required by the market, end users’ and car manufacturers. The key objectives of the TAHYA project are:
• OBJ#1: Preparatory work to provide a compatible H2 storage system with high performances, safe and Health Safety Environment responsible.
• OBJ#2: Provide a compatible H2 storage system with mass production and cost competitive.
• OBJ#3: Regulation Codes and Standards (RCS) activities to propose updates on GRT13 and EC79 according to tests results obtained over the duration of the project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Over the 1st period of the project, significant results have been obtained towards the planned objectives.
High-level Specifications from VW (WP2) have been defined and validated with the industrial partners (Optimum, ANLEG, RAIGI). The product definition has been validated and the activity to design and manufacture the 1st prototype has been launched (WP3).
In conjunction to the design, a verification plan has been prepared (WP4) ensuring a close monitoring of performances of different components. The Statistical approach on design has also been finalised and is ready for confirmation of vessel performance & design over the next period and tests campaigns.
As planned in Objective#2, the WP7 provided key knowledge for industrial manufacturers interested in providing a solution ready for mass production. The 1st cost iteration is done as the identification of cost levellers for next steps of manufacturing.
Last key objective of the project is to propose updates on GRT13 and EC79 according to tests results obtained (WP8). The work remains in progress and a presentation of probabilistic approach has been validated and presented in a working group of GTR13 in China.

The 2nd period was largely dominated by manufacturing liners (RAIGI) and producing prototype tanks (Optimum CPV). Numerical simulation of the structural behavior and performance testing (hydraulic burst and cycling) revealed the design of the boss part needed slight modifications to withstand the fatigue tests. Ultimately, the composite was optimize to meet the required specifications from V according to WP2. Furthermore, the on-tank valve (OTV) was tested and refined and the newly designed gas handling unit (GHU) was manufactured as a prototype. Furthermore, the design of the final mounting fixation was finalized.
The midterm-review in September2019 illustrated the progress made in all areas. The discussion with the external expert showed a strong interest in the orbital winding technology developed by TUC confirming a potential of improving productivity in view of high-volume production.
Polarix partners made significant progress in the calculation model to assess the overall costing of the storage solution, confirming that the target price of 400€/kg of H2 is realistic by 2024 considering a production volume of 20.000 parts per year, all in line with the MAWP of Hydrogen Europe. Finally, BAM presented their results regarding different option of structural health monitoring at a workshop in Berlin.
2020 was dominated by the CORONA pandemic, which leads to the extension of the project until June 2021. Still liner with the final modifications were supplied by RAIGI and OPTIMUM CPV manufactured tanks which successfully passed the hydraulic cycle tests at BAM. TUC had issues to finalize the numerical filling simulation. A project amendment was validated to subcontract this task to an external institute (Fraunhofer Institut Magdeburg).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TAHYA project focus on the development of a complete, competitive & innovative European H2 storage system for automotive application, which will be individually optimised according to the actual State of the Art (SoA) and production methods, then improved with alternative designs and industrial production methods.
The production strategy goes along with the target requirements for quality and will be tracked with a cost number for the concepts in parallel to be aware of keeping the product and development costs on track. Each component will be calculated in terms of its total cost as well as a functional analysis will keep the costs down.
This continuous analysis and follow-up will enable industrial partners to:
• Meet customer requirements for hydrogen and fuel cell components and systems
• Develop a competitive European/domestic supplier base for hydrogen and fuel cell system components
• Standardize parts and components that are commonly used by all system integrators.
The feedback and the won experience will help to optimise the defined product to become mass producible, which is not the case at the moment.
The lack of harmonized RCS applicable to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies is also a major institutional barrier to deploying these technologies domestically and globally. A key need that has emerged is improved harmonization of requirements in RCS not only in the traditional markets of the European Union, Japan and US, but also in emerging economies such as China, Korea, India, and Brazil.
The TAHYA consortium intend to work with the RCS Working Group of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) to establish a detailed test measurement protocol that will help ensure global uniformity of qualification test results for Type IV composite pressure vessels and storage systems (with the aim to reduce of minimum required burst pressure by 10% in dependence of scatter at same safety level and support and facilitate completion of the Global Technical Regulation (GTR 13 and EC79).
Obtaining these results will provide strong market opportunities for the 4 industrial partners in the consortium where the generated innovations will positively impact their commercial position. In particular, Optimum CPV, RAIGI and ANLEG as SMEs will greatly benefit from the knowledge gained through the consortium and the visibility of such an EU project leading to an acknowledgement at EU and international level.
Results of the TAHYA project were presented by BAM at the GTR13 Working Group Meeting in Tianjin, China, in June 2019. A discussion was engaged mainly with delegates from Japan and the US around minimum burst requirements. Where Europe promotes a probabilistic approach, the argumentation of Japan and the US was based entirely on the practical experience of current tank manufacturers (HEXAGON and TOYOTA). Discussion will continue at the next meeting in Stuttgart in November 2019.

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