- There are only about 15,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles on US roads right now, and all of them are in California. Meanwhile, there are millions of electric cars out there.
- While electric cars are gaining attention and major manufacturers are aiming to be dominant by 2030, hydrogen vehicles remain behind the scenes for the present.
- This is the very thing that you want to be aware of what hydrogen vehicles are, the way they work, and that you are so liable to drive one sometime in the not so distant future.
You've likely heard a ton about electric vehicles of late, as well as news about regulation to lessen fossil fuel byproducts from vehicles. But there's another kind of zero-emissions vehicle, one that only emits water vapor as it drives you down the road. This is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, related to the electric car, but with specific differences that make hydrogen cars different and much rarer.
About 2.5 million EVs have been sold in the US to date. In contrast, there were 15,000 or fewer hydrogen-powered vehicles on US roads as of mid-2022. All will be in California, the main state with an organization of retail hydrogen filling stations to make the vehicles usable.
Hydrogen Cars Currently Available
As of 2015, three hydrogen-powered cars are offered for sale from three different automakers: the Honda Lucidity Power module, the Hyundai Nexo SUV, and the Toyota Mirai. However, Honda has now discontinued all Clarity models and Hyundai has sold less than 1,500 Nexo SUVs to date.
Toyota, the company most committed to hydrogen as an alternative to battery electric vehicles, has sold roughly 10,700 Mirai sedans in the U.S. over two generations — though it has resorted to deep discounts in some periods to move them. (Honda is not discontinuing sales of its Clarity Fuel Cell model from the plug-in hybrid and battery versions of the Clarity.)
What is a hydrogen car?
A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV for short) uses the same kind of electric motor as a battery electric car to turn the wheels. However, it is powered not by a big, heavy battery but by an energy component framework in which unadulterated hydrogen (H2) goes through a layer to consolidate with oxygen (O2) from the air, delivering power that turns the wheels and steam. This means that a fuel cell vehicle is technically a production hybrid, which is why they are sometimes classified as a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV).
For scientists, hydrogen is not really a fuel but an energy carrier. However, ignore the difference, as HFCV drivers fill up their carbon fiber vehicles' high-pressure tanks at "hydrogen fuel stations" that are very similar in concept to the old reliable service station, with a similar five-minute refueling time.
You may have heard that hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. At the atomic level, this is true - but hydrogen is never found in a pure state. It is always combined with other elements. Its strong tendency to attach itself to anything in sight makes it a good carrier of energy. Creating pure hydrogen for vehicles requires the use of large amounts of energy to "crack" a compound such as natural gas (CH4) into pure H2, with CO2 as a byproduct. (Most hydrogen today comes from fossil fuels like natural gas.) When hydrogen passes through a fuel cell, it immediately returns that energy back in the form of electricity as it combines with oxygen. Only water vapor (H2O) comes out of the exhaust pipe.
Behind the wheel
In practice, the driver of an HFCV will find it almost identical to driving a battery electric car, although perhaps not one of the faster ones. There is no gearbox and the car is equipped with regenerative braking to recover wasted energy when decelerating.
The challenge for automotive engineers is that hydrogen fuel cells are happiest at steady performance. This makes them suitable, for example, for backup power supply. But power requirements in the average car vary by orders of magnitude, from about 15 kilowatts (20 horsepower) to maintain the vehicle at a steady highway speed on a straight road, to 10 to 20 times that amount for top acceleration to 60 mph or higher.
The challenge for car engineers is that hydrogen fuel cells are happiest at steady performance. This makes them suitable, for example, for backup power supply. But power requirements in the average car vary by orders of magnitude, from about 15 kilowatts (20 horsepower) to maintain the vehicle at a steady highway speed on a straight road, to 10 to 20 times that amount for top speed to 60 mph or more.
The power module in the Toyota Mirai is the smash hit hydrogen vehicle in the US, has a result of 90 kW (120 hp). But that's not enough to accelerate on a fast-moving freeway, so Toyota (like other HFCV makers) adds a high-voltage, low-capacity battery, very similar to those used in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. It serves to provide supplemental power for short periods of intense acceleration, and is recharged either from the excess output of the fuel cells when the car is traveling at a steady speed, or through regenerative braking when the car is decelerating. All three hydrogen cars sold in recent years have an EPA-estimated range of 300 miles or more, though, as with EVs, that range drops significantly at higher speeds.
Are hydrogen cars safe?
HFCVs are broadly viewed as safe as some other vehicle; because high pressure tanks are designed to survive high speed impacts without leaking or breaking. While hydrogen skeptics commonly cite the Hindenburg explosion in 1937, the hydrogen tanks and their hardware would probably have survived even if the rest of the vehicle had been destroyed in the crash. In the generally modest number of HFCVs offered to date, no injuries or deaths specific to the hydrogen components have been reported.
Advantages and disadvantages of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
HFCVs have some of the same positives as battery electric cars: they're smooth, quiet, and peaceful to drive—and their tailpipes don't emit any carbon dioxide or other harmful exhaust gases, just water vapor. They also lack the charging duration problem that EVs have; it takes them roughly five minutes to refuel for another 300 to 400 miles.
However, there are several disadvantages, the most challenging of which is the availability of its fuel. While plans ten years prior called for California to have 100 hydrogen stations, the fact of the matter is around 60.
The most problematic thing is that not all of these stations are online and always available for refueling. You can count the total number of green "H70" dabs in the ongoing station status report kept up with by the California Energy component Association to perceive the number of are at present dynamic. Many hydrogen drivers rely on this app to map out their fueling stops before heading out.
Hydrogen filling stations
Fueling a hydrogen car comes naturally with time, but aligning the heavy nozzle and sealing it properly so the car and pump can communicate electronically can take some practice. Today's stations can often fill up only two to five vehicles before going offline for up to half an hour to re-pressurize.
As HFCV drivers in the San Francisco Narrows Region found in June 2019, the framework for conveying hydrogen to retail locations is exceptionally flimsy. The explosion disrupted supplies to nine of the area's 11 hydrogen stations, requiring diesel trucks overnight to transport tankers of compressed hydrogen hundreds of miles from Southern California.
Drivers who relied upon their hydrogen vehicles to inspire them to work needed to set their alarms for the wee hours of the morning in hopes of getting to the gas station so as to get a portion of the restricted hydrogen fuel. Toyota wound up discounting a while of rent installments to Mirai drivers across the state who couldn't dependably utilize their vehicles.
The primary difference and greatest detriment of hydrogen vehicles contrasted with EVs is that they are similar to gasoline cars in that they cannot be "refueled" or recharged at home overnight. But unlike gasoline cars, for which there is a well-developed set of more than 100,000 gas stations across the country, hydrogen drivers are totally subject to both a solid inventory of the actual gas and an accessible - and appropriately working - high-pressure corner store.
Cost of hydrogen fuel
Since hydrogen fuel is a niche commodity for the general public, a small network of retail stations naturally charge high prices. To quote the California Hydrogen Business Council, "a kilogram of hydrogen at California hydrogen stations currently costs between $10 and $17, which equates to about $5 to $8.50 per gallon of fuel" to drive the same distance. (The Toyota Mirai hydrogen car holds about five gallons of hydrogen.)
To make up for this burden, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota have offered their renters and buyers free hydrogen fuel for various periods. Each manufacturer has a slightly different offering: the Toyota Mirai comes with up to $15,000 worth of free hydrogen, while the Hyundai Nexo includes the same $15,000 on a three-year lease or up to six-year ownership.
However, after these offers expire, the driver is on his own. And if hydrogen can be compared to gasoline at $5 to $8.50 per gallon, note that overnight EV charging typically equates to gasoline at just $1 to $2 per gallon.
Hydrogen car service
Like electric cars, hydrogen vehicles require dealer service centers to take some special precautions. HFCVs have the same high-voltage batteries as a crossover, module half breed, or electric vehicle, however they likewise have at least one heavily clad carbon fiber tanks that hold unadulterated hydrogen under very high tension: 10,000 pounds for each square inch (psi) or 700 bars in metric units.
Normal service for a hydrogen car, which does not involve the hydrogen tanks, fuel cell stack or the pipes that connect them, is like any other vehicle. However, if any of these components must be taken care of, the territory of California has a bunch of rules to guarantee that any escaping hydrogen is not at risk of explosion.
These include, for the most part, the defueling of hydrogen tanks in specific types of outdoor spaces outside buildings. Then the rest of the system is purged of any remaining hydrogen by flushing the components with various gases, a process that takes 30 to 180 minutes.
The future of hydrogen cars
If you're in California and inspired by a zero-emanation vehicle controlled by an electric engine, a hydrogen vehicle might worth consider. Yet, right now it is a certain risk. Creating a brand new fuel network without any preparation has shown to be undeniably more risky — both costly and inconsistent — than automakers imagined, and fuel is more expensive for drivers than gasoline.
Without that hydrogen fuel delivered at 10,000 psi, the HFCV is nothing more than a big, expensive stopgap. If we had to guess, we'd suggest that the future of passenger cars is more likely to be electric.
FAQs
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