HHydrogen is a fascinating substance: the lightest element. When it reacts with oxygen, only water is produced and a large amount of energy is released. This invisible gas looks like the clean fuel of the future. Some of the world’s top auto executives hope it will replace batteries as the technology of choice for zero-emission driving.
Our EV MythBusters series explores everything from car fires to battery mining and range anxiety to cost concerns and carbon footprints. Many critics of electric vehicles argue that we should not abandon gasoline and diesel engines. This article asks the question: Can hydrogen provide a third way and transcend batteries?
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Many of the strongest claims about hydrogen’s role in cars come from CEOs at the heart of the industry. Japan’s Toyota is the most active proponent of hydrogen, with chairman Akio Toyoda last month saying he believed the share of battery cars would peak at 30%, with the remainder made up of hydrogen and internal combustion engines. Toyota’s Mirai is one of the only widely used hydrogen-powered vehicles, along with South Korea’s Hyundai Nexo SUV.
“Hydrogen is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to zero-emission mobility,” Oliver Zipse, boss of German manufacturer BMW, said last year. BMW may be investing heavily in battery technology, but the company’s BMW iX5 Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are being tested – albeit using Toyota fuel cells. “One technology alone is not enough to achieve climate-neutral mobility on a global scale,” Zipse said.
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Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but that doesn’t mean it’s easily available on Earth. Today, most pure hydrogen is made by splitting carbon from methane, but this creates carbon emissions. Zero-emission “green hydrogen” comes from electrolysis: using clean electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
To use hydrogen as a fuel, you can either burn it or use it in a fuel cell: the hydrogen reacts with oxygen in the air in the presence of a catalyst, usually made of expensive platinum. It strips away electrons that can pass through the circuit to charge the battery that can power the electric motor.
Jean-Michel Billig, chief technology officer of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle development at Stellantis, said hydrogen can be refueled in four minutes, have a higher payload and have a longer range. (The Mirai has a range of 400 miles on a full charge.) Stellantis started producing hydrogen-powered vans in France and Poland last month, targeting businesses that want continuous use of their vehicles and don’t want the downtime required for recharging.
“They need to get on the road,” Billig said. “If taxis don’t operate, they lose money.”
Stellantis believes this could lower the sticker price. Billig said he expects “by the end of this decade, hydrogen vehicles or pure electric vehicles will be on par from a cost perspective” – although the company will produce both products simultaneously.
Many energy experts do not share the enthusiasm of hydrogen carmakers. Tesla boss Musk has described the technology as a “dumb sell”: Why use green electricity to make hydrogen when you can use the same electricity to power your car?
Every energy conversion creates wasted heat. This means that hydrogen fuel inevitably delivers less energy to the vehicle. (These losses would be further increased if hydrogen was burned directly or used to make e-fuels to replace gasoline or diesel in noisy, hot internal combustion engines.)
David Cebon, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Cambridge, said: “If you use green hydrogen, the electricity required to make hydrogen to power a car is three times more than the electricity required to simply charge the battery.”
That might be a slight improvement, but not enough to challenge the battery. “It’s hard to do better,” Sebon said.
Michael Liebreich, chairman of Liebreich Associates and founder of analytics firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, created the influential “hydrogen ladder” — a ranking of hydrogen uses based on whether there are cheaper, easier or more likely options. List. He puts hydrogen in cars “in the doomsday bracket,” with little chance of even a niche market.
Can hydrogen replace car batteries? “The answer is no,” Liebreich said without hesitation. He added that carmakers making a big bet on hydrogen would be “wrong” and would pay a high price.
The key issue for hydrogen cars is not the fuel cell, but how to get clean hydrogen where it is needed. The gas is highly flammable – with all the safety concerns that come with it – must be stored under pressure and can leak easily. It also carries less energy per unit volume than fossil fuels, meaning it would require many times more tankers unless on-site electrolysers are used.
Governments in the United States and Europe have invested heavily in hydrogen supply and provided substantial subsidies. But so far, there’s been a chicken-and-egg problem: Buyers don’t want hydrogen-powered cars because they can’t be refueled, and there are no gas stations because there aren’t any cars. According to the European Hydrogen Observatory, there are 178 hydrogen refueling stations across Europe, half of which are in Germany. Compare the UK’s 9 hydrogen refueling stations to 8,300 petrol stations or 31,000 public charging points (excluding household plugs).
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So why does the International Energy Agency believe that hydrogen will account for 16% of road transport by 2050, on the road to net zero emissions? The answer lies mainly in larger vehicles such as buses and trucks.
Liebridge said he was convinced batteries would still dominate the energy supply for heavy goods vehicles and even co-founded a truck charging company. “There may be some hydrogen in heavy vehicles, but it’s a minority,” he said.
Even Toyota admits that the use of hydrogen fuel cells in cars has so far been “unsuccessful”, with its technical chief Hiroki Nakajima saying in an interview with Autocar in October that this was mainly due to a lack of fuel supplies. Trucks and long-distance buses hold better promise for the technology, although the company is also prototyping a hydrogen version of its Hilux pickup truck.
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As government enthusiasm grows or wanes, the hydrogen economy will change. Other things could change: Technology could improve (within limits) and make natural gas more attractive, and explorers might be able to find cheaper “white hydrogen” to drill from the ground.
For cars, however, the fate seems sealed: Batteries have become the post-gasoline option for nearly every manufacturer. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, fewer than 300 hydrogen-powered cars have been sold in the UK over 20 years, compared with one million electric vehicles.
Batteries’ dominance is likely to expand as money invested in research and infrastructure addresses range and charge time issues. Compared with the huge investment, hydrogen energy is just a trickle.
The question now facing hydrogen advocates is whether they can build a profitable business in long-distance, heavy-duty road transport. They need answers quickly about where to get enough green, cheap hydrogen and whether the gas could be better used elsewhere.
