Tapping into hydrogen
There was some commotion recently around Hyundai's next-generation hydrogen SUV which had been spied testing IRL, so I felt inspired to write about hydrogen cars. I find it to be one of the more interesting alternative energy sources at there: it is super clean on the one hand, but it also presents quite some challenges in several domains.
CHALLENGES
First of all, producing, storing, and transporting hydrogen is costly. For instance, hydrogen production is very energy intensive. That is why BMW – one of the big hydrogen believers – always puts its plants in the vicinity of hydroelectric power stations. Hydrogen is also highly flammable and must be stored under high pressure. Refuelling used to be complex and considered dangerous. But this challenge has mostly been solved today, though. Refuelling infrastructure is another stumbling block, but I don’t see this as an excuse for not scaling. A few years ago, we had the very same problem with charging stations for EVs, which have now pretty much become ubiquitous.
Hydrogen vehicles are also still relatively costly, but production is not the reason. This has just to do with the fact that they are not yet developed and marketed at scale. We saw that very same problem in the EV market earlier. There, Tesla was one of the first to solve that conundrum, by only selling high end cars when they launched. What they lacked in scale of fabrication, they made up for in expensive luxury. Early Tesla adopters did not care about the cost. They went for comfort, innovation and frictionless service.
ADVANTAGES
Most of all, hydrogen cars offer many advantages. They are zero emission vehicles which only emit water vapor and heat. They are less affected by extreme temperatures, making them more reliable across varied climates. Hydrogen cars can also be refuelled in 3 to 5 minutes, which is similar to refuelling a fossil fuel vehicle and thus much faster than EV charging. Overall, they offer longer ranges than many EVs, often exceeding 500 km per tank. On the other hand, battery technology in EVs is evolving exponentially and in 2 to 3 years there will be very little difference in range and perhaps even in charging time.
No wonder that several automotive leaders like BMW, Toyota, Honda, Land Rover and Hyundai as well as smaller startups like Hyperion Motors and Riversimple are investing in this area. I personally don’t believe that it will be an either/or story. I think both EV and hydrogen cars will have a future as replacement for the classic fuel cars.
First of all, producing, storing, and transporting hydrogen is costly. For instance, hydrogen production is very energy intensive. That is why BMW – one of the big hydrogen believers – always puts its plants in the vicinity of hydroelectric power stations. Hydrogen is also highly flammable and must be stored under high pressure. Refuelling used to be complex and considered dangerous. But this challenge has mostly been solved today, though. Refuelling infrastructure is another stumbling block, but I don’t see this as an excuse for not scaling. A few years ago, we had the very same problem with charging stations for EVs, which have now pretty much become ubiquitous.
Hydrogen vehicles are also still relatively costly, but production is not the reason. This has just to do with the fact that they are not yet developed and marketed at scale. We saw that very same problem in the EV market earlier. There, Tesla was one of the first to solve that conundrum, by only selling high end cars when they launched. What they lacked in scale of fabrication, they made up for in expensive luxury. Early Tesla adopters did not care about the cost. They went for comfort, innovation and frictionless service.
ADVANTAGES
Most of all, hydrogen cars offer many advantages. They are zero emission vehicles which only emit water vapor and heat. They are less affected by extreme temperatures, making them more reliable across varied climates. Hydrogen cars can also be refuelled in 3 to 5 minutes, which is similar to refuelling a fossil fuel vehicle and thus much faster than EV charging. Overall, they offer longer ranges than many EVs, often exceeding 500 km per tank. On the other hand, battery technology in EVs is evolving exponentially and in 2 to 3 years there will be very little difference in range and perhaps even in charging time.
No wonder that several automotive leaders like BMW, Toyota, Honda, Land Rover and Hyundai as well as smaller startups like Hyperion Motors and Riversimple are investing in this area. I personally don’t believe that it will be an either/or story. I think both EV and hydrogen cars will have a future as replacement for the classic fuel cars.
