Hydrogen Cars: Alternative to Electric Car
Electric cars are gaining in popularity in the fight against carbon emissions and climate change. Countries are slowly adapting to greener ways of transport such as electric cars for countries to hit their carbon emissions reduction target. An alternative to electric cars is a car that uses the most abundant element on earth, hydrogen.
What is a hydrogen car?
Hydrogen cars use hydrogen as their fuel source. Hydrogen is used in rockets and other transport vehicles. Hydrogen cars use the chemical energy of hydrogen to convert to mechanical energy through reduction and oxidation between hydrogen and oxygen within a fuel cell. The result of the reaction is water.
How is hydrogen produced?
Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen cannot be found in reservoirs or natural deposits but need to be produced from natural gas or biomass or electrolysed from water. Even though converting water into hydrogen can be done via fossil fuels, it can also be produced via renewable electricity to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Advantages of using Hydrogen Cars
The main advantage of using hydrogen cars is that the only substance produced from hydrogen cars is water, which will help decrease greenhouse emissions. Producing hydrogen fuel using renewable energy will also help with the cause. Unlike electric cars which had range anxiety, hydrogen cars can cover 300 miles from one tank, once the tank is almost empty then you can just refill it with more hydrogen.
Disadvantages of using Hydrogen Cars
There are not many hydrogen-refuelling stations so filling up your vehicle is an issue at the moment. As hydrogen cars start becoming popular and mainstream, their availability will increase in line with the number of hydrogen cars on the road. Currently, hydrogen is more expensive than petrol or diesel and hits consumers’ pockets. One major factor when using hydrogen is the fact that it is highly flammable. To transport hydrogen safely when storing it in the car, the gas needs to be held in a high-pressure cylinder.
Difference between fuel cell cars and electric cars
Both avenues offer emission-free driving, however, electric cars can be implemented using the existing infrastructure to recharge but they need to be plugged in for long periods. On the other hand, fuel cell cars need more time to refine and develop as well as a more financial investment to upgrade the current infrastructure to cater for the needs of fuel cell cars.
Summary
Hydrogen-powered cars offer a great alternative to electric cars giving an easier way of refuelling similar to current combustion engines. Hydrogen cars need more development and investment to get the technology in a state where it is safe in extreme conditions and have the infrastructure built to support this new technology.