With the huge popularity of Tesla and dozens of other electric vehicles now on sale, it is easy to forget that plug-in batteries are not the only option in zero-emission transportation. Hydrogen cars also exist-cars you can buy now and leave them in the garage, some start at just $35,000.
Although these vehicles account for only a small portion of plug-in electric vehicle sales (and plug-in electric vehicles only account for a small portion of total vehicle sales), manufacturers are still optimistic about the potential of hydrogen-powered electric vehicles.
Only this month, Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to develop hydrogen-powered vehicles. SUVs may be on the road by 2030, while the startup Hyperion revealed the concept of hydrogen-powered supercars, claiming a mileage of 1,000 miles.
The two are still a long way from mass production, but both companies have joined Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes, BMW and General Motors, and they are all involved in the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Take Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai as examples. They are now selling this type of car in the United States.
Battery electric vehicles are in a leading position in the race for non-emissions transportation, but hydrogen electric vehicles have some key advantages, and some predict that it will be the ultimate winner.
First, let us explain the naming convention of these vehicles. Electric vehicles driven by batteries (such as Tesla’s electric vehicles) are called battery electric vehicles or BEVs. Electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells are called fuel cell electric vehicles or FCEVs.
These should not be confused with battery-powered hybrid vehicles that use hybrid batteries and internal combustion engines. They are divided into two types, plug-in rechargeable vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, namely PHEVs, and electric vehicles that use kinetic energy and engine charging, namely mild hybrid electric vehicles, or MHEVs.
Both battery-electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered vehicles use electric motors, and the driving feel is roughly the same. However, the former obtains power from a battery pack that is inserted and charged, and the latter uses an on-board fuel cell that uses hydrogen to generate electricity to power the electric motor. There is no need to insert a battery to charge the battery, but instead use a pump to refill the hydrogen tank at the gas station.
In the case that the battery often takes an hour or more to charge (although the speed will vary with the type of battery and charger), the filling time of the hydrogen tank of a fuel cell vehicle is not the same as filling the gasoline tank or gasoline with gasoline. Time is similar.
Once a fuel cell vehicle is full of hydrogen, it undergoes reverse electrolysis, where the hydrogen reacts with oxygen in the fuel cell (absorbed from the surrounding air). This reaction produces electricity to drive the electric motor; the only by-products are heat and water, which are emitted as water vapor from the tail pipe.
Some fuel cell vehicles directly use electrical energy generated by reverse electrolysis to power the electric motor, while other fuel cell vehicles store this energy in the battery and then use it to drive the electric motor. However, these batteries are much smaller (and therefore lighter) than those used in plug-in electric vehicles. Like plug-in cars and hybrid cars, fuel cell cars can generate electricity by collecting the kinetic energy lost during braking and coasting, and then feed it back into the battery.
Yes, some have existed for several years. Toyota Mirai is arguably the most famous hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and it is now the second generation. The Mirai has a cruising range of 312 miles, uses an EPA test cycle, requires five minutes to refuel, and its powertrain has a 10-year or 150,000-mile warranty.
The 2020 Mirai is priced at $58,550, but it can be leased for less than $400 per month.
The alternative fuel cell vehicle is 2020 Honda Clarity, with a list price of US$35,000. It has a range of 360 miles, can refuel in about five minutes, has Apple CarPlay, and uses the same HondaLink connected car application as other Honda cars.
The third fuel cell vehicle currently sold in the United States is the Hyundai Nexo, which is priced at US$58,735, but can be rented for US$379 per month and requires a deposit of US$2,999. Nexo has a cruising range of 380 miles, which is the most hydrogen car currently sold in the United States, but is currently only available in California.
Like battery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles produce no exhaust emissions (except for water vapor in this case) and are quieter than their internal combustion engine relatives. They also have impressively powerful low-speed performance because their electric motors can also produce maximum torque immediately. However, when the battery-powered car is still charging slowly, the hydrogen tank can be refilled from a roadside pump in less than five minutes.
The cruising range of hydrogen-powered vehicles is also longer than that of battery-powered vehicles, which is equivalent to gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles in this respect. They do not often bear the burden of heavy battery packs. In some cases, no matter how much energy the battery pack contains, its weight may exceed 1,000 pounds.
But hydrogen-powered vehicles also have many important shortcomings to overcome. They are expensive because the market has a long way to go to benefit from the economies of scale that battery-powered carmakers are just beginning to enjoy. A large part of this high cost comes from the demand for platinum for hydrogen vehicles, and platinum is the best catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells. Another problem is that unlike electricity, hydrogen has a lot of quality and needs to be transported to gas stations.
As the sales of hydrogen vehicles increase, these costs should fall, but for now, they face the same chicken and egg problem that plug-in electric vehicles have suffered for years: lack of infrastructure.
Just as buyers of electric cars have been delayed for lack of charging options, potential buyers of hydrogen cars find themselves in a worse situation. Currently, there are dozens of hydrogen refueling stations in the United States, with clusters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, but none in most states. According to h2stations.org, there is only one in Texas, one in Colorado, and one in Arizona. There are only three stations in Canada, and by the end of 2019, there are about 40 stations in California.
This may change-look at how many charging stations have sprung up around the world in the past few years-but it may well take a “Tesla moment”, but this growth can only be achieved. Before consumers started buying hydrogen cars, the industry had little incentive to invest money to build a comprehensive refueling network. Like Tesla, manufacturers are likely to need to create their own networks to break this deadlock and accelerate car sales.
Hydrogen is currently more expensive than electricity and gasoline. According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, the most common price of hydrogen is US$13.99 per kilogram, which is equivalent to US$5.60 per gallon of gasoline, or US$0.21 per mile.
To offset the high cost, automakers currently provide three years of free hydrogen for every new fuel cell vehicle they purchase, worth up to $15,000.
It is hoped that this incentive will encourage more drivers to buy fuel cell vehicles, just as Tesla provided free Supercharger to early adopters, and then ended this practice as more people buy these cars. The California Fuel Cell Cooperative believes that the price of hydrogen will be reduced to between US$8 and US$10 per kilogram by 2025, which means that the operating cost per mile is about US$0.12 and the price of gasoline per gallon is reduced by US$3.50.
At present, it is difficult to say. But automakers seem to be confident about this. Once battery power becomes a stepping stone to push the industry away from gasoline and diesel, hydrogen will become a long-term solution.
Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai show no signs of exiting the market, while BMW plans to release the hydrogen-powered X5 SUV in 2022, followed by the hydrogen-powered X6 and X7.
Jaguar Land Rover plans to reveal its first hydrogen concept in the middle of this century. Then, the company hopes to provide hydrogen-powered Land Rover and Land Rover Range Rover models by 2030, because when applied to large vehicles, the technology makes more sense than heavy-duty batteries. Mercedes (Mercedes) sells hydrogen-powered GLC F-Cell, although it is currently only sold in Germany, and PSA Group said it will launch a fuel cell-powered van in 2021.
Start-up companies are also interested in fuel cell technology. US-based Nikola is currently developing its Badger pickup truck and its own Tesla-style hydrogen fuel network. Nicholas claimed that the truck may have a cruising range of 600 miles, but has not yet revealed when it plans to sell the $60,000 car.
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