Are hydrogen cars greener than electric cars? Are hydrogen cars the best mobility alternative for the future? They don’t emit CO2 during the driving journey – does this mean they’re not polluting? Find out the basics about hydrogen-powered cars and what’s the best option to protect the environment today.
How Hydrogen And Electric Cars Work
A hydrogen fuel cell car has a hydrogen tank that feeds a fuel cell with high pressured hydrogen gas that’ll mix with oxygen. This mix starts an electrochemical reaction that produces electricity to power the electric motor. This means hydrogen cars have characteristics of both electric cars (due to the use of electric energy and motor) and conventional petrol cars (because of the tank). However, they represent a unique share of the transportation market and they’re also called FCVs (Fuel Cell Vehicles) or FCEVs (Full Cell Electric Vehicles).
Fuel cells are the main component of hydrogen-powered cars:
Think of them as the maestro of all the processes happening inside the car so that it has the energy to move. Long story short, fuel cells turn the stored hydrogen gas (by mixing it with oxygen) into electricity. This electricity is then used to power an electric motor to propel the vehicle, without any toxic tailpipe emissions. In fact, the only by-product of the whole process is water and heat, as the result of the connection of hydrogen and oxygen atoms that forms H20 molecules. I know – it seems perfect, right?
On the other hand, electric vehicles (EVs), are powered by electric motors that pull current from a rechargeable battery or other portable sources of electricity. Once they are moving, there’s no chemical reaction happening either, only an electric one thanks to the power batteries were previously charged with. But which one is more ecological and sustainable? Electrical cars or hydrogen cars? Before drawing into final conclusions let’s first take a look at the most important characteristics of each type of vehicle.
Hydrogen Cars Vs Electric Cars: Driving Range
Hyundai Nexo (hydrogen powered) can travel around 330 miles or 550 km, which is around the same as the electric Tesla Model S, the best of its kind. Nonetheless, it’s hard to accurately tell the driving range of these cars. It depends on a number of metrics such as the number of passengers the car is taking, if the air-con is on or off, whether the car is on a high-road or stuck in the city center traffic, the type of vehicle itself… This is why different people have been reporting different experiences, due to their unique mix of all these variables. However, as hydrogen cars densely pack their energy storage, they’re usually able to achieve longer distances. While most fully electric vehicles can travel between 100-200 miles on a single charge, hydrogen ones can get to 300 miles, according to AutomotiveTechnologies.
Hydrogen Cars Vs Electric Cars: Available Power/ReFuelling Stations:
The number of power stations for EV is growing every day and there were 20,000 electric charging stations in the United States by December 2018. A big number when compared to the less than 45 hydrogen refilling stations in the US, most of them in the California area, according to the US Department of Energy. Indeed, the infrastructure, supply, and the technology of hydrogen cars are still years behind electric vehicles.
Hydrogen Cars Vs Electric Cars: Powering/Refuelling Time
The amount of time it takes to pump hydrogen into the tank is way more interesting (5 to 10 minutes, just like any petrol car) than the one from electric cars. While Tesla’s fast chargers (with 120 kW) give batteries 80% power in half an hour, the BMW i3 or the Nissan Leaf can take around 4 or 8 hours, respectively, to get fully charged. In the end, the time electric cars take to power depends obviously on the charging station and the type of charging connector. But whatever the combination is, and even with Tesla’s most recent V3 supercharger that’s still in beta testing in San Francisco, this is a clear win for the hydrogen car – all because of 1kg of hydrogen storing 236 times more energy than 1 kilogram of lithium-ion batteries.
The Real Problem: Getting Hydrogen
natural gas pipeline hydrogen cars
Although hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it doesn’t exist in its pure form in the Blue Planet. This means that if we wish to use it as fuel for our cars, we need to produce it out of other compounds like water, natural gas or other fossil fuels, or biomass. And for this, energy needs to be used and environmental and economic costs enter the equation.
In one hand, we can get hydrogen in a clean way by reversing the electrolysis process of water. The problem is that this process of separating H20 molecules to get the hydrogen spends a high amount of energy, making it a very expensive process. However, if this energy is able to come from renewable energy sources like the sun or the wind, the net energy cycle can get very carbon low and the process turns more environmentally-friendly. Yet, another situation is the efficiency of the process, that’s only 75% efficient and allows for 25% of electricity loses.
This is why most today most hydrogen fuel is obtained is by the process of natural gas reforming, which is less expensive than electrolysis. The downside is that harmful by-products such as carbonate dioxide and carbon monoxide are produced in the process, contributing to global warming. Furthermore, and although they’re becoming less frequent, methane leaks while extracting natural gas are not uncommon. And these molecules are not only 86 times worse than CO2, being responsible for around 25% of the global GHG emissions. The process of extracting natural gas – fracking – usually also has a significant environmental impact and can harm ecosystems, biodiversity, contaminate waters and cause minor earthquakes
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