Musk, who's used hydrogen to fuel SpaceX rockets in the past, has ridiculed fuel cells as “fool cells” for many years and described hydrogen, which can be costly to produce and store, as an inefficient clean power source.
Elon Musk has been vocal about his stance on hydrogen fuel cells. He doesn't like it. And he mentions it in this tweet.
Disadvantages of hydrogen cars:
Patchy refuelling infrastructure (just 11 H2 stations open to the British public in early 2022) Technology still expensive – pricier than battery electric vehicles. Fuel-cells not as efficient well-to-wheel as BEVs. Cleanliness depends on how hydrogen is produced.
The next Tesla hydrogen vehicle hasn't been given any official information, but experts believe it will be built on the Model S or Model X platform and will have the company's renowned modern styling and cutting-edge technology.
“It's important to understand that if you want a means of energy storage, hydrogen is a bad choice.” Expanding on his argument, Musk went on to state that “gigantic tanks” would be required to hold hydrogen in liquid form. If it were to be stored in gaseous form, “even bigger” tanks would be needed, he said.
That's true to an extent, but hydrogen-powered cars are not really expected to replace EVs. Instead, hydrogen is intended to complement pure electric power, and there's a good reason for this: it is the cleanest fuel possible.
Currently, most hydrogen is produced using coal or natural gas as feedstocks. Both emit harmful by-products into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide. So, while hydrogen itself is eco-friendly the processes used to isolate the chemical element have a significant environmental footprint.
Hydrogen's energy content by volume is low. This makes storing hydrogen a challenge because it requires high pressures, low temperatures, or chemical processes to be stored compactly.
Yes, hydrogen cars are way better than electric cars in terms of zero harmful emissions, quick refueling, and longer driving range. However, hydrogen cars are quite expensive and inefficient with limited infrastructure, and therefore, electric cars are more convenient, reliable, and a better option to consider.
No, SpaceX don't use Liquid Hydrogen in their rockets. Why? SpaceX wants their rockets to be simple, cheap and reliable. Using Liquid Hydrogen will add complexity, costs them a lot and not be reliable (compared to RP-1).
While not as bad as using electricity generated using fossil fuels, the process still releases huge amounts of carbon – each tonne of hydrogen produced releases eleven tonnes of CO2, equivalent to driving 72,000 km in a passenger car.
Laboratory experiments indicate that the flame propagation speed of hydrogen is higher than for methane, and that a hydrogen/air explosion would be more intense than a methane/air explosion, both with respect to explosion pressure and pressure fluctuation [61] .
Hydrogen is a naturally occurring gas that is also the most abundant element in the universe. It has enormous potential as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels because it only emits water when it is burned.
Toyota's Overall Strategy
Toyota is taking a multi-pronged approach to reducing emissions, including full electric cars, hybrids, and hydrogen cars. The company's focus on hydrogen may also help it differentiate itself from other automakers that are primarily focused on electric vehicles.
Because hydrogen reacts with tropospheric hydroxyl radicals, emissions of hydrogen to the atmosphere perturb the distributions of methane and ozone, the second and third most important greenhouse gases after carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen is a highly inflammable substance and explosive in nature; it cannot be easily transported from one place to another and it can be generated by the hydrolysis of water but it is a very expensive process.
But when emitted into the atmosphere, hydrogen contributes to climate change by increasing the amounts of other greenhouse gases such as methane, ozone and water vapor, resulting in indirect warming.
A new Global Hydrogen Car market study indicates hydrogen-powered vehicles are expected to take off by 2028. This study evaluates the growth potential of the hydrogen car market and provides market intelligence and strategic insights for decision-makers.
If it is not produced using renewable sources, hydrogen pollutes. To date, more than 96% of the hydrogen used is grey. It costs less, but its impact on the environment is so great that 10 kilos of carbon dioxide are produced for every kilo of hydrogen obtained.
As the most abundant element in the universe, thankfully hydrogen is one thing we'll never be able to run out of — and it could eventually replace oil-derived fuels.
In terms of energy storage density, hydrogen fuel cells generally outperform lithium ion batteries. This gives them a significant advantage when it comes to range. Hydrogen fuel cells are also lighter and more compact than high-load lithium ion batteries.
Future of Hydrogen Vehicles
A recent study published in January 2022 by Nature Electronics suggests that fuel cell electric vehicle technology will not play a major role in sustainable road transport in the future.
But the lack of a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, the challenges around transporting the fuel and the fact that you need a lot more energy to make a hydrogen vehicle move than a battery electric vehicle means for now, the future is battery electric.