Have you ever thought of opting for an electric car? Or do you think EV is cool and worthwhile because of the advantages? If yes, this write up is for you. If not, this write up might give you pause for a thought.
An article by James O’Neil in April stated a few reasons why these hydrogen cars will never be successful. This article is nothing against him because Doren second the statement which said “Hydrogen is good for greenwashing, but it’s a solution to a problem that does not exist.” Yes, that is totally undeniable.
However, as many countries are aiming to have a healthier environment, green hydrogen is the most reasonable option that users may choose. Hydrogen fuel cells vehicles are usually compared with electric vehicles, which both have their advantages. Both types of vehicles cannot be denied to have the specialty and the users may consider to choose between these two based on its characteristics and what they could offer to the users.
To look back to the article by James O’Neil that said hydrogen vehicles are a solution to no problem, this type of vehicle actually does have its strengths. Previous article said that hydrogen is not easy to collect from the air. To be exact, hydrogen can be processed through few different types of renewable energy and by that, it shows the source of energy will hardly be run out. Other than that, it clearly shows that to get the hydrogen fuel cells is not as hard as it may seem. It is able to be produced through natural resources, and can be used for different purposes. There are two most common hydrogen production methods which are steam-methane reforming and electrolysis.
Other than that, the gas that ends up in the atmosphere produced by hydrogen vehicles is far way better than natural gas as it is environmentally friendly. According to Voelcker (2022), hydrogen fuel cells vehicles are known as zero-emission vehicles because they emit only water vapour as it carries you down the road. Hydrogen vehicles can definitely reduce carbon emissions and it may ensure a healthier environment where many countries are aiming for it. Therefore, this can be said as the main focus and objective of using hydrogen vehicles.
Another fact that cannot be denied is the price for hydrogen fuel cells is higher than normal gas. However, it is more cost saving when it comes to its operational costs. PlugPower (2023), stated that the usage of hydrogen fuel cells reduce labour, time, space, and peak power requirements by doing away with the need to change, charge, and manage batteries. The units may be fueled in as little as three minutes and can run longer than lead-acid batteries, significantly reducing vehicle and employee downtime. ‘
Not only that, the cost for hydrogen fuel cells is reasonable when it is considered and calculated with the number of miles it can go up to. According to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (2022), the comparison between fueling up with hydrogen fuel cells and natural gas needs to have a serious look. It has been stated that 1 Kilogram of hydrogen can be used up to 60 miles and 1 Gallon of gas can only be used for 25 miles. There is a huge gap for the usage between these two types of fuel.
Therefore, it can be asserted that the hydrogen vehicles could be the successful ones because it could be one another option for users’ selection of vehicles. Even so, as the hydrogen vehicles are new in town, it is completely needed to have its infrastructure. It is necessary to have a proper plan regarding the charging station, fuel demands and related things before introducing and encouraging the application.
Baudino (2022), stated that Zipse, The chairman of BMW AG said “After the electric car, which has been going on for about 10 years and scaling up rapidly, the next trend will be hydrogen.” It shows that people from the automotive industry had already foreseen the rise of hydrogen vehicles. Through the benefits the users could get from the usage of hydrogen vehicles, and with a proper planning, it should be no harm for the industry to change the production of the types of vehicles.
