Alstom’s hydrogen train initiative in Germany has faced significant challenges, with operators resorting to diesel due to the unavailability of replacement fuel cells. This issue underscores a deeper problem regarding hydrogen’s viability in transportation, primarily its reliance on platinum. The Coradia iLint trains, utilizing fuel cells that require significant amounts of platinum, illustrate the growing structural constraints of hydrogen mobility. As the demand for platinum in various industries outpaces supply, the potential for hydrogen transportation to scale is severely limited, making battery electric solutions more favorable.
Alstom’s hydrogen train experiment has hit the buffers again, with operators in Germany reverting to diesel because replacement fuel cells are not available. Only four of the 14 Coradia trains Lower Saxony purchased are in operation. It is tempting to dismiss this as a simple supply chain hiccup, but the problem runs deeper. Following the thread back reveals not only the weakness of hydrogen in transportation but also a structural material constraint that makes it even less viable. The Coradia iLint trains were always meant to be a flagship for hydrogen mobility. They use fuel cells supplied by Cummins, built out of its Hydrogenics legacy in Canada and Europe. Each train carries two modules rated at about 200 kW each. Fuel cells of that scale require 0.4 to 0.6 grams of platinum per kilowatt to achieve the durability demanded in rail service. That works out to about 0.2 kg of platinum per train. At today’s prices, that costs about $8,700, around 5% of the cost of the fuel cell. It sounds small until you set it against global production. At the heart of every PEM fuel cell sits a thin membrane coated with platinum, and its role is both simple and irreplaceable. Platinum acts as the catalyst that splits incoming hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons. The protons migrate through the membrane while the electrons are forced around an external circuit, producing usable electricity. On the other side of the membrane, platinum again makes the reaction possible by speeding up the sluggish process of combining oxygen, protons, and electrons into water. These two reactions are fundamental to the device, and platinum’s unique surface chemistry allows them to happen at practical rates and with the necessary durability. Without platinum, the cell either fails to run efficiently or falls apart too quickly. That catalytic function is why every gram of platinum in a fuel cell stack is indispensable, and why fuel cells cannot escape their dependence on a scarce and volatile metal.
The platinum market produces about 250 to 280 tons per year. Roughly a third goes into automotive catalysts, primarily for diesel cars and trucks. Another quarter goes into jewelry. Industrial catalysts in refining and chemicals absorb close to a fifth. Glass and electronics take a smaller share. Fuel cells and electrolysers together barely register at 1 or 2 tons a year. In catalytic converters for cars and trucks, platinum is one of the metals that makes modern combustion tolerable under air quality rules. When exhaust gases leave the engine, they carry unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. Platinum provides active sites on its surface that break down these pollutants through redox reactions at the high temperatures of the exhaust stream. Hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide are oxidized into carbon dioxide and water, while nitrogen oxides are reduced into nitrogen. Platinum works in concert with palladium and rhodium, but in diesel engines platinum is the most effective catalyst because of the cooler and oxygen-rich exhaust. The finely dispersed platinum particles can withstand the thermal cycling and chemical poisons that would destroy lesser materials. Without platinum, diesel engines could not meet emissions regulations, which is why automakers buy it at almost any price and why the demand from this sector dominates global consumption.
In refineries, platinum is the quiet workhorse of the catalytic reforming units that turn low-value naphtha into high-octane gasoline and feedstocks for petrochemicals. Platinum atoms dispersed on alumina support
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/08/16/hydrogen-mobility-vs-platinum-reality/