List of Disadvantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
- It is expensive. While widely available, hydrogen is expensive.
- It is difficult to store. Hydrogen is very hard to move around.
- It is not easy to replace exiting infrastructure.
- It is highly flammable.
- It is dependent on fossil fuels.
Hydrogen vehicles are basically electric cars with a fuel tank. They boast the performance and instant torque of battery electric cars, while providing greater range than any pure EV on the market today. Lastly, refueling times are comparable to gasoline cars, obviating range anxiety and lengthy charging stops.
From the point of view of a filling station owner, adding hydrogen facilities is not economically viable and potentially too dangerous; this contributes to the low production numbers. The lack of 'push' from legislators further hinders the progress of the hydrogen fuel cell car.
MyFC predicts that fuel cells will surpass batteries in energy density and cost efficiency in a few years. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied, whereas a lithium-ion battery runs out of juice whenever the reactions that are present in its cells cease to function.
Hydrogen cars are stuck in a chicken-and-egg situation of supply and demand. In addition, there are nowhere near enough hydrogen filling stations. This leads to a low demand for hydrogen, which means that little money is being invested into the new technologies.
The short answer is that hydrogen behaves differently from gasoline. But generally it is about as safe as the gasoline we now put in most vehicles' fuel tanks. Its vapors don't pool on the ground, as do gasoline's heavier-than-air vapors. So in most cases, hydrogen doesn't present as great a fire or explosive danger.
In summary, hydrogen cars are quieter than conventional gasoline cars. They do have a definite, low-decibel sound due to their fuel cell systems, but overall tire and wind noise is likely to be higher than this anyway.
Fuel economy and range
| Comparison of fuel economy expressed in MPGe for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles available for leasing in California and rated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as of August 2015 |
|---|
| Vehicle | City fuel economy |
|---|
| Honda Clarity Fuel Cell | 68 mpg-e |
| Toyota Mirai | 66 mpg-e |
| Honda FCX Clarity | 58 mpg-e |
Yes, it's possible to generate hydrogen in a science fair kind of way by electrolysing water. A liter of water will get you about 111 grams of hydrogen if you can capture it all. A kilogram of hydrogen is the fuel cell car equivalent to a gallon of gas.
At the moment, you'll be able to fill up your 2017 Toyota Mirai about Toyota Mirai for $16.63 per kilogram. That's a cost per mile of around $0.33 based on the average consumption pattern. Toyota Mirai FAQs.
In the future, fuel cells could power our cars, with hydrogen replacing the petroleum fuel that is used in most vehicles today. Fuel cells have strong benefits over conventional combustion-based technologies currently used in many power plants and cars.
It's the most abundant element on earth. It was powering engines in 1807, and, with the right extraction methods it's as clean as fuels come. Yet hydrogen still hasn't taken off in the automotive sector.
While hydrogen is a cheaper fuel than gasoline on paper, the reality is, as of 2010, it is much more expensive. The few models of hydrogen-fueled cars that are commercially available generally cost more than $100,000. Researchers are still tweaking the technology to produce and transport hydrogen fuel.
Why aren't we all driving hydrogen fuel cell cars then? Firstly, their technology makes them expensive: the only hydrogen cars currently on sale in the UK are the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo, which both cost over £60,000 and are now exempt from the government's £3,000 Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG).
A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel for motive power. As of 2019, there are three models of hydrogen cars publicly available in select markets: the Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai Nexo, and the Honda Clarity. Several other companies are working to develop hydrogen cars.
Electric vehicles are getting increasingly common, but in the last year or so Toyota, Hyundai, and BMW have announced hydrogen powered cars. "Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, so we wouldn't run out of it for about a billion years, and it's clean too.
In theory, just like a hydrogen fuel cell, a hydrogen combustion engine should not produce the environmentally damaging carbon emissions because hydrogen fuel does not have any carbon in it. Yet, because of the combustion process involved with hydrogen combustion engines, it actually produces nitrogen oxide.
List of Disadvantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
- It is expensive. While widely available, hydrogen is expensive.
- It is difficult to store. Hydrogen is very hard to move around.
- It is not easy to replace exiting infrastructure.
- It is highly flammable.
- It is dependent on fossil fuels.
When liquid hydrogen is stored in tanks, it's relatively safe, but if it escapes there are associated hazards. Topping the list of concerns is hydrogen burns. In the presence of an oxidizer -- oxygen is a good one -- hydrogen can catch fire, sometimes explosively, and it burns more easily than gasoline does.
Yes, you can run your car on water. The key is to take electricity from the car's electrical system to electrolyze water into a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, often referred to as Brown's Gas or HHO or oxyhydrogen.
Still, the company doesn't recommend drinking it. That's because the water is created by sucking in oxygen from the surrounding air and bonding it to hydrogen from the fuel tank. But the water is slightly acidic, with a pH around 5 or 6. That's less acidic than acid rain and even beer.
A man, who claimed to have invented the water powered car, died suddenly after eating at a restaurant and running outside screaming 'they poisoned me'. Despite an investigation, the police went with the Franklin County coroner report which ruled Meyer, who had high blood pressure, died of a cerebral aneurysm.
Yes, you can run your car on water. All it takes is to build a "water-burning hybrid" is the installation of a simple, often home-made electrolysis cell under the hood of your vehicle. There's even a Japanese company, Genepax, showing off a prototype that runs on nothing but water.
In January 2015, it was announced that production of the Mirai fuel cell vehicle would increase from 700 units in 2015 to approximately 2,000 in 2016 and 3,000 in 2017. As of December 2017, global sales totaled 5,300 Mirais. The top selling markets were the U.S. with 2,900 units, Japan with 2,100 and Europe with 200.
As is the case with many fuel-cell vehicles, there is an option to lease. In the case of the 2019 Toyota Mirai, $2,499 will be due at signing, and the lease is $349 a month for 36 months with a 12,000-mile-per-year allowance. Unlike other FCVs, however, you can buy the new Mirai.
Hydrogen fuel prices range from $12.85 to more than $16 per kilogram (kg), but the most common price is $13.99 per kg (equivalent on a price per energy basis to $5.60 per gallon of gasoline), which translates to an operating cost of $0.21 per mile.
Hydrogen has a place
What's tough to dispute is that the hydrogen fuel cell dream is all but dead for the passenger vehicle market. Now all that's left is for the former hydrogen-focused manufacturers to play catch-up with Tesla, GM, and others, which may be easier said than done.
