Summary
If you build it, it’s almost certain the media will come, and they certainly did come in hoards recently to see Honda’s new FCX Clarity. However, the proposed hydrogen fuel cell economy is a fantasy in the media hype consciousness. Why should oil companies (or government) spend tens of billions of dollars building a hydrogen fueling infrastructure, which at best will take away business from their gasoline sales, and at worst will be a complete business loss, assuming as now seems likely, that hydrogen cars never catch on? Sure, hydrogen can be made from carbon-free sources of power like wind energy or nuclear (but has not so far), but so can electricity for electric cars. Hydrogen cars are just outright inefficient, very costly and have little to no supporting infrastructure in place compared with electric cars. In two years, GM and Toyota have promised to deliver plug-in hybrids. That will be a real step closer to a future free of petroleum.
Analysis
Sure, the FCX is an impressive engineering accomplishment as the first commercial fuel cell car, but in my opinion, backed-by dozens of researched articles on this subject, the hydrogen car almost certainly has no future.
Of course, California and Japan are building refueling networks for the hydrogen car: check outhydrogencarsnow.com/japan-hydrogen-highway.htm. And some generation-IV nuclear-reactor designs have been proposed that could potentially produce hydrogen (from water) cheaper than electricity.
And yes, even though media attention and reviews on the new Honda FCX Clarity car have been glowing, the classification that hydrogen is an alternative fuel makes it deceptively attractive. Once you realize it’s just a battery storing the same old electric power, the only differences with a hydrogen car are: 1) it is prohibitive costly, for 2) it has significantly lower efficiency, and 3) it requires a huge investment in an entire new infrastructure just to make it relevant.
Electric cars – and especially plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)– have an enormous advantage over hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in utilizing low-carbon electricity.
Three important things to remember:
1) Electricity is pretty much available everywhere, whereas hydrogen is essentially available nowhere;
2) The per-mile fuel cost of an electric car is probably one-quarter that of a hydrogen fuel-cell car. That is, an electric car will travel three to four times farther on a kilowatt-hour of renewable or nuclear power than a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will;
3) Electric-car manufacturers are working on "exchangeable batteries” which would make a battery swap about as fast as it takes to refuel a car with hydrogen.
Sure, our electric grid may need repairs and maintenance but at least it's already in place and not some pie-in-the-sky potential like most alternative energy prospects. This can be done economically NOW, not years from now and we need it NOW more than ever.
In summary, I really do think people will opt for electric vehicles and moreover plug-in hybrids: it just makes a whole lot more sense for the average person's financial situation, the economy, and for our environment.
