Why hydrogen fuel cells are bad

Answer: Where is the ideal battery? Batteries will continue to be more expensive big and clumsy than hydrogen-FC systems several decades ahead. Stating anything else is simply misinformation. The most likely scenario is that BEVs will take most of the small and short range traffic, while FCEVs will take bigger and longer range vehicles.

The coming Tesla Semi will not have a chance in this contest. Its batteries will weigh several, maybe , kg. Jonas Blomberg, Your corrections of those misinformative statements are pretty good, but here are some more things to consider for your rebuttal.

Most of it goes toward upgrading crude oil and creating crop fertilizers. They make pure clean water while doing so. Hazer Technology uses SMR to produce hydrogen but captures the resulting CO2 in the form of graphite, which is of battery grade.

HEE sounds a bit dangerous to me, though. You should take my word for it. Electric cars is a viable option in major cities, but will never be mainstream in the U.

I can go on and on, but to sum up, compressed hydrogen will take over gasoline in the long run. Batteries are not perfect, but not what you are saying above. They will also improve greatly. But the efficiency of HFCs are unlikely to change due to physics. Most of what you are saying is just not the case with EVs and certainly not mine. I have a Ford Focus. If Hydrogen FCVs prove as convenient as petrol and diesel cars are, and just as cost effective time is money , he stands to lose a lot.

They will have to rely on company or city provided charging which will come at a price, may not be available, may not be where you need it or may not charge your vehicle fully. Ignoring the fossil fuel aspect for the moment, there is a real danger that the distribution transformers pad mount and pole pigs will be overloaded by the increase in the numbers of cars charging overnight.

Overall the capacity of the national grids will cope but the local networks are a different matter. Rather than install a transformer which will provide each house with 40kW, electricity companies work out a diversity factor which means that transformer will be rated at maybe only 3 kW per house. In reality you and your neighbours will use more than that, but not all at the same time and certainly not for 24 hours, so the 3kW allowance is fine.

The transformer will cool down over night and everything is good. If we assume that every house in your street has an electric car each, and consider that the minimum charge for a battery EV Nissan Leaf is 3. So there is a possibility that when large scale Battery EV take up is experienced, the power networks will not have enough capacity at a local level. Hydrogen is gone most car manufacturers abandoning it like Mercedes because by the time it will be affordable for the masses like 20 years from now EV cars and battery technology will drive trucks for miles per 10 min charge.

Not to mention that fuel cell cars have tons of complex parts plus a bomb tank plus less space for passengers and store room. Hydrogen can be used for other purposes but not in cars. Amazon will soon be using hydrogen fuel cell forklift trucks in 11 warehouses.

The truth is stored hydrogen is very heavy because of weight of the bottle. The answer is probably a hybrid vehicle which has some batteries but derives its energy from methanol and produces hydrogen on the go. This is possible if you integrate a steam Reformer with Fuel Cells and batteries.

Tank up with methanol, convert it to hydrogen on the go and store surplus by the car is not moving as electrical energy in a battery. No, glass fibre tanks are not heavy but are very strong.

Mirai tanks 5 kg H2 weigh kg I think. Of course real system are less So kg is to heavy for you to go 1,kms a battery is several tons. There is no doubt that hydrogen is THE fuel for earth and space BUT the answer is the technology to convert water to hydrogen at the location of the device or vehicle NOT having to transport or pipe the hydrogen to the device or vehicle. Piping water is what we do best all over the world!

Piping water no problem! The conversion must be done decentralized!! Inside the device or vehicle that uses the hydrogen. IF not viable, then have the unit that converts water to hydrogen at local stations that have the conversion unit on site until the development of one inside the vehicle. The technology is coming and at the present rate of development we should begin to see it in 7 years. My simple minded logical interim suggestion whilst awaiting fuel cell development of cars and local filling stations would to be replace oil fed or nuclear power stations with hydrogen powered, achieving the green target in the short term and concentrating the complicated handling shortcomings into fewer geographical areas where it can be controlled safely.

Of course as pointed out above there would still be upgrades required re transformers mentioned above to cope with BEV charging but surely it has to be greener immediately. Can a resident expert please advise whether this theory is correct and also practical to any degree? Comments Seems that Zachary has not had a look at ethanol and diesel powered solid oxide fuel cell vehicles yet?

Matt , Where is UPS using fuel cell fork lifts? Any details on that? Amazon now bought into Plug Power Inc. It does not say that Shahan is a fuel cell expert — you have not read it carefully.

Next, all vehicles including a FC also include a battery. This leads me to the last point. Some of his statements are ridiculous: 1. Answer: It is easy to fill up with hydrogen minutes. Fuel cells wear out crazy fast and are hard to regenerate. Hydrogen storage is inefficient, energetically, volumetrically and with respect to weight. Answer, Simply wrong, FC systems are known for reliability and robustness. This is the real advantage of hydrogen cars over electrics.

Elon Musk stated that by the range of the Model S could be over miles km , and by over miles km. When you take into consideration opportunity charging, and the fact that humans must sleep at night, a mile range battery would essentially be a limitless range. And when electric vehicles no longer come with range anxiety, there will be no reason whatsoever to buy a hydrogen fuel cell-powered car.

In the market for an electric vehicle, but the Tesla is out of your price range? I found the e-Golf to be the most enjoyable of the economy electric cars. The Nissan Leaf also offered a well sorted package overall, and the model will have an even greater range. Please confirm you agree to the use of tracking cookies as outlined in the Cookies Policy. Sign in or register. Engineering Explained 6 years ago. Remind me later. Share Tweet Email Whatsapp.

The Process Is Inefficient. This blog is the first in a series exploring the safety considerations of energy technologies critical for a carbon-neutral economy. Hydrogen—mostly used in refineries and fertilizer production today—is currently produced via a dirty process that relies on fossil gas as feedstock and emits a significant amount of carbon pollution. Green hydrogen—being produced in only small amounts today—has the potential to replace fossil fuels in emissions-heavy vehicles like trucks, ships, and planes , and in industrial processes like the production of steel and chemicals.

It can help us achieve a percent renewable energy electricity sector by allowing us to store power for long periods of time. The gas industry is even pushing hydrogen as a clean substitute for fossil gas for heating spaces and water in buildings, although it would be an expensive solution compared to transitioning our buildings to operating on electricity.

See this blog. While hydrogen has known safety hazards and that we should continue to prioritize hydrogen safety measures, it also has properties that should make it safer to handle than conventional fuels like gasoline and diesel when handled responsibly. On earth, it mainly exists as an essential component of water H 2 O. Hydrogen gas H 2 is composed of two hydrogen atoms stuck together, each containing just one proton and one electron.

This simple chemical structure is what makes hydrogen gas flammable and relatively easy to ignite. This is also why hydrogen gas is non-toxic, odorless, tasteless, and light.