Fuel cell vehicle
Fuel cells are being developed and tested in trucks, buses, boats, ships, motorcycles and bicycles, among other kinds of vehicles.
[3] The Toyota FCHV and Honda FCX, which began leasing on December 2, 2002, became the world's first government-certified commercial fuel cell vehicles,[4][5][6] and the Honda FCX Clarity, which began leasing in 2008, was the world's first fuel cell vehicle designed for mass production rather than adapting an existing model.
[16] As of 2021[update], there were only two models of fuel cell cars publicly available in select markets: the Toyota Mirai (2014–present) and the Hyundai Nexo (2018–present).
Grove's experiments with what he called a "gas voltaic battery" proved in 1842 that an electric current could be produced by an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen over a platinum catalyst.
[27] English engineer Francis Thomas Bacon expanded on Grove's work, creating and demonstrating various alkaline fuel cells from 1939 to 1959.
There were only two seats, as the fuel cell stack and large tanks of hydrogen and oxygen took up the rear portion of the van.
[42] In 2024, Hyundai recalled all 1600 Nexo vehicles sold in the US to that time due to a risk of fuel leaks and fire from a faulty "pressure relief device".
[58] The vehicle would include a tank holding a blend of water and ethanol, which is fed into an onboard reformer that splits it into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
After initial experiments with phosphoric acid fuel cells, hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses were tested in cities in the late 1990s.
[60] In the 2000s, buses entered trial service in cities around the world; the European Union supported the research project Clean Urban Transport for Europe.
[76][77] In 2005, the British firm Intelligent Energy produced the first working hydrogen run motorcycle called the ENV (Emission Neutral Vehicle).
[83] Boeing researchers and industry partners throughout Europe conducted experimental flight tests in February 2008 of a crewed airplane powered only by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries.
In 2009, the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Ion Tiger utilized a hydrogen-powered fuel cell and flew for 23 hours and 17 minutes.
[87] Boeing is completing tests on the Phantom Eye, a high-altitude, long endurance (HALE) to be used to conduct research and surveillance flying at 20,000 m (65,000 ft) for up to four days at a time.
[93] In March 2015, China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated the world's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao.
A 2022 study in Energies magazine cites relatively fast refueling times compared with electric truck charging times and the current limitations of the energy density of batteries, but they note that "operating constraints" include the "high amount of CO2 emissions [caused by] hydrogen production", the lack of storage and refueling infrastructure, H2 leakage and safety challenges, efficiency "losses in compression, storage and dispensing", .
[99] In 2020, Hyundai started to manufacture hydrogen powered 34-ton cargo trucks under the model name XCIENT, making an initial shipment of 10 of the vehicles to Switzerland.
[111] Under United Nations global technical regulations for wheeled vehicles, specifically regarding hydrogen usage, there are international standards which define aspects of engineering and overall integrity, performance, safety, part lifecycle, and various other categories.
One notable area of these regulations is regarding the compressed hydrogen storage systems that typically reach the end of qualified service life at 15 or fewer years in use.
[114][115] In 2012, however, Chu stated that he saw fuel cell cars as more economically feasible as natural gas prices had fallen and hydrogen reforming technologies had improved.
[124] As of September 2023, hydrogen cost $36 per kilogram at public charging stations in California, 14 times as much per mile for a Mirai as compared with a Tesla Model 3.
[127] In addition, a 2023 study by the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) estimated that leaked hydrogen has a global warming effect 11.6 times stronger than CO₂.
"[133] Richard Gilbert, co-author of Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil (2010), comments similarly, that producing hydrogen gas ends up using some of the energy it creates.
Such losses in conversion don't stack up well against, for instance, recharging an electric vehicle (EV) like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt from a wall socket".
[134][135] A 2010 well-to-wheels analysis of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles report from Argonne National Laboratory states that renewable H2 pathways offer much larger green house gas benefits.
[127] In 2010, a US DOE well-to-wheels publication assumed that the efficiency of the single step of compressing hydrogen to 6,250 psi (43.1 MPa) at the refueling station is 94%.
[137] A 2016 study in the November issue of the journal Energy by scientists at Stanford University and the Technical University of Munich concluded that, even assuming local hydrogen production, "investing in all-electric battery vehicles is a more economical choice for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, primarily due to their lower cost and significantly higher energy efficiency.
"[138] In 2008, professor Jeremy P. Meyers, in the Electrochemical Society journal Interface wrote that fuel cells "are not as efficient as batteries, due primarily to the inefficiency of the oxygen reduction reaction.
"[139] Also in 2008, Wired News reported that "experts say it will be 40 years or more before hydrogen has any meaningful impact on gasoline consumption or global warming, and we can't afford to wait that long.
Considering all the obstacles and requirements for new infrastructure (estimated to cost as much as $400 billion), fuel-cell vehicles seem likely to be a niche technology at best, with little impact on U.S. oil consumption.
