Is Hydrogen the Answer to Our Future Transport Needs?:
It’s the most commonly-occurring element in the universe, it can be burned in a combustion engine or used to fuel electric motors, and it’s vastly cleaner emissions-wise than gasoline. The automotive industry seems to have settled on hydrogen as the magic bullet solution to the looming energy crisis, and each year we see a number of fuel cell concept cars showcased by the major manufacturers — but it’s a technology with some serious hurdles to overcome before it becomes viable. So how does hydrogen compare to batteries as a means of propelling transport in the future?
Is hydrogen the answer? Honda is one of many major auto companies that think so — stating in a recent release on their FCX concept that “Hydrogen will fuel the next generation of global vehicles. It’s a fact accepted by the entire industry. And given that it’s the most commonly-occurring element in the universe, supply is not an issue.”
But what about the new and coming generations of plug-in electric vehicles? As with Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, its early days yet, but pure electric vehicles seem to have a few strong points of their own. So, with a focus on fuel cells rather than hydrogen fueled internal combustion engines, let’s take a look at the set of requirements a transportation fuel source has to meet to be viable, and see how hydrogen and batteries compare:
[See the article for the areas of comparison: Abundance, efficiency, safety, refueling practicality, environmental factors, and economics.]
On the whole, a pretty balanced treatment, although I have a nano-nit to pick with the refueling topic–the author points out that a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle can be refueled very quickly, allowing a driver to make long trips. Batteries and the associated technologies are in development to allow quick charges, but that seems to be years away. True enough, but it overlooks the basic chicken-and-egg issue–you can quickly refuel your hydrogen fuel cell car only if you can find a hydrogen filling station. (A point mentioned later in the same article.) For a long distance trip to grandma’s, it will be very problematic finding filling stations along the way, unless you and grandma both just happen to live in hotbeds of hydrogen infrastructure development.
Honda offers FCX for ‘08, bitchslaps Google:
Honda has confounded green-motoring analysts by announcing that it will offer a hydrogen-powered car for general sale in 2008, years earlier than expected.
The car in question - the third generation of Honda’s FCX fuel-cell demonstrator platform - was always expected to debut next year, but until now the plan had been to lease it to users in a motoring beta test. Now Honda has amazed the motoring world by saying that the car will go on sale in the US and Japan for just £50,000 - despite the scarcity of hydrogen filling stations.
“When the car was invented, countries weren’t full of petrol stations,” Honda chief exec Takeo Fukui said. “When the demand is there [the hydrogen economy] will happen.”
Honda is trying to get more hydrogen pumps deployed, but also has another trick up its sleeve: the planned Home Energy Station. This might be bought by FCX owners in future, and hooked up to their domestic gas supply to produce hot water and electricity for the house as well as hydrogen for the car. The Energy Station isn’t ready yet, however.
So, how many of these puppies do you think Honda will sell in the US next year at a cool $114,000? 100? 500? Not only will buyers have to deal with the scarcity of filling stations, but the depreciation on the first fuel cell cars will likely be staggering.
I’m not impressed with the Home Energy Station concept, as it ties the car to your home just as sure as an EV would, plus it will generate a lot of CO2, as it produces hydrogen by reforming natural gas. I guess the earliest adopters will feel so green and superior driving their “only emits water vapor from the exhaust!” car that they’ll overlook the CO2 emissions from their home filling station.
And yes, I realize that electrolyzing water to make hydrogen will create CO2 emissions for the majority of customers, but that scenario has at least one possible saving grace: When the source(s) of your electricity get(s) cleaner, all your electricity consumption gets cleaner, automatically. Put in a natural gas reformer and you’re stuck with its CO2 emissions as long as you use it.
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October 31st, 2007 at 1:54 pm
If you live in California the hydrogen fueling situation is not so bad:
http://www.fuelcellpartnership.org/fuel-vehl_map.html
There are 25 stations in the state with 10 more planned, mostly in the L.A., Sacramento and SF Bay area. I don’t know if you could get all the way from LA up to the northern state on one fill-up, but if so you could have pretty flexible driving plans.
One thing I wonder about is recharging batteries safely, assuming they can be made to accept a fast charge. There will be a huge number of watts streaming into that battery, a lot more than an average person ever comes into contact with. You’ll need a very safe connector system if you want to prevent occasional electrocutions. Normally only professional electricians come near such large currents. (Of course gasoline fueling is not without its hazards, as zillions of movies have reminded us how easily bad guys can start fires at gas pumps.)
October 31st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
One other thing, the BW article is quite good but it missed one big advantage for electrical over hydrogen, which is that there is a bridge technology for electric cars: the plug-in hybrid. These are expected to be in production in a few years and will run on electricity for short trips, then switch to gasoline if necessary for longer ones or if they can’t be recharged. Once there are enough public charging stations then they can eliminate the gas engine, replace it with an equivalent weight of batteries and have a practical electric vehicle. Plus plug-ins will make economic sense on their own due to the savings from electric charging, assuming that battery costs continue to drop.
For hydrogen you’d likewise need a car that could take either gasoline or hydrogen, but I have not heard of any plans to develop such a beast. Without that bridging technology it will be a much bigger hurdle to get the new fueling system into place. The advent of plug-in hybrids should play a significant role in easing the transition to an all-electric auto transportation system.
October 31st, 2007 at 2:56 pm
“Is Hydrogen the Answer to Our Future Transport Needs?”
Short answer: No.
Long answer: If they can figure out a way to cheaply and cleanly and safely manufacture it, store it, and transport it… by then we will have much better batteries and solar panels. So, no.
October 31st, 2007 at 4:59 pm
High electrical current is not that dangerous. Many homes have electric stoves which draw a lot of amps. OTOH high voltages need to be handled carefully but pose little risk if properly engineered. For decades we’ve lived comfortably with televisions which need 20,000+ volts for the picture tube.
If Honda wants more H2 fueling stations then why don’t they put one at every dealership?
October 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
To get an idea of the magnitudes involved, suppose our EV is to have similar fueling performance to a gasoline car. It can drive 400 miles on a charge and refuel in 5 minutes.
EVs go about 4 miles per kWh so that means it has to have a 100 kWh battery. Refueling that in 1 hour would of course take 100 kW but refueling in 5 minutes is 12 times faster, so it takes 1.2 megaWatts! That’s like a thousand households’ worth of power running into your car just a few inches from your hands, in a connection that you hooked up yourself in moments, probably only half paying attention. I literally would not feel comfortable doing that even via the proverbial ten foot pole.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Now Tom, fueling stations at each dealership is a far too simple answer to the solution. If you had a Ford like me, you could easily keep the HYd Veh full, just fill it up every few days when you take it in for repairs.
Really, though, if the car companies could think like yourself and other normal people, they could have solved the EV problem AND the Hyd Veh problem a long time ago. Maybe even a Hyd/Elec hybrid?
November 1st, 2007 at 12:03 pm
At least one good thing about the H2 vs EV debate is that ethanol is nowhere mentioned. Maybe the boondoggle message is finally getting through.