View Single Post
      10-14-2014, 12:29 PM   #2
jadnashuanh
Major
United_States
50
Rep
1,061
Posts

Drives: 535iGT x-drive; i3 BEV
Join Date: May 2010
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

Hydrogen is probably our cleanest 'burning' fuel, but its production may not be! Nor is transporting the stuff easy. It takes a lot of electricity to split hydrogen from water, and most production facilities today get H2 from natural gas and a byproduct of that is CO2, so other than the energy it requires to get it, that isn't the greatest for the environment, either.

It will be a very long time before hydrogen fueling stations are as readily available as an electric plug or a gas station is. CA has forced the availability of some refueling stations, but outside of CA, there is not much incentive to build them. There are very few of them around.

The exotic metals required in the fuel cell stack are not inexpensive (well, nor is the lithium in an EV's battery pack), but stuff like platinum is a LOT more expensive. We may see lots more of FC vehicles, but outside of CA, it's going to take awhile. There are only a few areas where it will be viable in the near term, and then, even though you may have decent range, you won't be able to easily go cross-country with one. Some of it is the chicken and egg problem, which also affects EVs with the lack of fast DC charging.
Appreciate 0