Viability Evaluation of Hydrogen Systems for Airport Ground Support Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract The decarbonisation of airport ground support operations is essential for achieving aviation sustainability targets while maintaining high operational efficiency. This study evaluates the technical, operational, environmental, economic, and infrastructure viability of hydrogen fuel-cell systems for airport ground support vehicles (GSVs) using an integrated systems engineering framework and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The assessment incorporates technical performance, operational characteristics, lifecycle environmental impacts, total cost of ownership, and infrastructure readiness. The results indicate that hydrogen-powered vehicles achieve an operational availability of 98.4–99.3 %, daily fleet utilisation of up to 94 %, and average refuelling times of approximately 4 min, enabling continuous multi-shift operation. Compared to conventional diesel vehicles, hydrogen systems eliminate local carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen oxide (NOₓ), and particulate emissions and reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1,018 g CO₂-eq/km to 82 g CO₂-eq/km when renewable hydrogen is used. Economic analysis shows that although the initial infrastructure investment reaches EUR 5.8 million, lifecycle costs (EUR 496,800) become competitive with diesel systems (EUR 538,600), with estimated investment payback occurring within 8.1 years for medium- and large-scale airport applications. The MCDA results identify hydrogen fuel-cell technology as the highest-ranked propulsion option with an overall viability index of 9.19/10, outperforming battery-electric (8.69/10) and diesel (6.42/10) alternatives. These findings demonstrate that renewable hydrogen systems constitute a technically reliable, environmentally sustainable, and economically promising solution for future airport ground support operations while providing a practical framework for strategic infrastructure planning and airport decarbonisation.