Hydrogen Transportation Applications Report Highlights (RAIL) - week 7
Series—Week Seven
This is SEP’s seventh post in our weekly series highlighting key insights from our latest report.
Hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives are emerging as viable fuels to decarbonize many transportation sectors. At SEP, our Transport Tracking Database monitors thousands of global announcements for medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) trucks, ships, material handling equipment (MHE), buses, rail, aircraft, and SAF.
The U.S. has over 180,000 miles of rail lines in need of decarbonization. Out of 352 total announcements we tracked from 2023 to 2024, 18 were for hydrogen rail locomotive orders and projects. The current database of vehicle orders is available via SEP’s North American Hydrogen Market Model: https://www.saoradh.com/hydrogen.
Multiple decarbonization options are viable for rail: electrification via overhead catenary systems, battery electric locomotives, and hydrogen fuel-cell locomotives. Globally, catenary systems are likely to dominate the low-carbon rail market due to their efficiency and maturity. However, in the United States, installing these systems is approximately twice as expensive as in Europe (ICCT, 2024). This significant cost difference makes hydrogen a more competitive and attractive alternative for U.S. rail decarbonization—particularly on routes where full electrification is cost-prohibitive.
SEP’s report, Hydrogen Transportation Applications, offers an in-depth analysis of vehicle sales and registration data across global, North American, and U.S. markets—benchmarking these trends against hydrogen vehicle purchases and market developments. Access the full report here: https://www.saoradh.com/marketplace-new
—SEP Hydrogen Chapter 3: Transportation Applications, January 2025
About Saoradh Enterprise Partners
Saoradh Enterprise Partners (SEP) is a cleantech venture capital and research firm based in Boulder, Colorado. SEP partners with innovators, entrepreneurs, and corporations to develop cleantech solutions at the magical intersection of science (what’s possible), finance (what’s bankable), industry (what’s needed), and planet (what matters). Learn more at www.saoradh.com.
Media contact:
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