The two prime dangers from fuel cell and hydrogen-powered vehicles are the danger of electrical shock and the flammability of the fuel. In addition, the hydrogen used to power a vehicle does not necessarily have to be stored on the vehicle as hydrogen.
There are currently only three hydrogen fuel cell cars available for UK buyers: Hyundai Nexo and the Toyota Mirai.
Hydrogen fuel prices range from $12.85 to more than $16 per kilogram (kg), but the most common price is $13.99 per kg (equivalent on a price per energy basis to $5.60 per gallon of gasoline), which translates to an operating cost of $0.21 per mile.
Only a couple of hydrogen fuel-cell cars are on sale, although more will launch. Only then will the fuelling infrastructure start to grow – at which point hydrogen cars will start to make a great deal of sense.
Hydrogen is an expensive fuel because it is produced only with large inputs of energy, and/or large amounts of conventional fuel in the form of methane. After is is produced, it has to be compressed to very high pressures to squeeze enough of it into a tank to be worth transporting.
Why aren't we all driving hydrogen fuel cell cars then? Firstly, their technology makes them expensive: the only hydrogen cars currently on sale in the UK are the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo, which both cost over £60,000 and are now exempt from the government's £3,000 Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG).
Until recently, the platinum catalyst that splits the hydrogen into an ion and an electron has been prohibitively expensive. Up to a few years ago, hydrogen fuel cells cost around $1000 for every kilowatt of power they generated – or around $100,000 per car.
As of 2018, there are 3 hydrogen cars publicly available in select markets: the Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai Nexo, and the Honda Clarity.
Currently, most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, specifically natural gas. Electricity—from the grid or from renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass—is also currently used to produce hydrogen. In the longer term, solar energy and biomass can be used more directly to generate hydrogen.
Like an internal-combustion engine, they make power by using fuel from a tank (though the fuel is pressurized hydrogen gas rather than gasoline or diesel). In the process, which resembles what happens in a battery, electricity is released and this is used to power an electric motor (or motors) that can drive a vehicle.
At the moment, you'll be able to fill up your 2017 Toyota Mirai about Toyota Mirai for $16.63 per kilogram. That's a cost per mile of around $0.33 based on the average consumption pattern. Toyota Mirai FAQs.
Step 1: Pay: Use the controls to pay for the fuel. Step 2: Pop: Push the H2 button inside the vehicle to open the fuel tank. Step 3: Lift: Pick up the fuel nozzle. Step 4: Lock: Insert the nozzle until it locks.
There are more than 6,500 hydrogen fuel cell cars in California and they can use 40 retail hydrogen stations. According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, the number of retail hydrogen fuel cell stations in California increased recently to 40.
Today, 95% of hydrogen is produced either from wood or from fossil fuels, such as natural gas and oil. The most common hydrogen production process is natural gas reforming — sometimes called steam methane reforming because it uses high-temperature steam.
The Toyota Mirai (from Mirai (??), Japanese for "future") is a mid-size hydrogen fuel cell car manufactured by Toyota, the World's first dedicated FCV and sedan-like vehicle to be mass produced and sold commercially.
List of Disadvantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
- It is expensive. While widely available, hydrogen is expensive.
- It is difficult to store. Hydrogen is very hard to move around.
- It is not easy to replace exiting infrastructure.
- It is highly flammable.
- It is dependent on fossil fuels.
One of the challenges facing FCEVs at the minute is that there aren't many hydrogen fuelling stations. Major fuel brands including Shell are moving to install facilities but at the moment there are only 16 in the whole of the UK and fewer than 200 across Europe.
While hydrogen is a cheaper fuel than gasoline on paper, the reality is, as of 2010, it is much more expensive. The few models of hydrogen-fueled cars that are commercially available generally cost more than $100,000. Researchers are still tweaking the technology to produce and transport hydrogen fuel.
While most pure EVs today cannot travel much more than 100 mi (161 km) on a single charge, hydrogen cars can travel around 350 mi (563 km) on one tank, putting them on a par with conventional cars.
Currently, there are three hydrogen fuel cell cars available for lease or purchase: The Toyota Mirai, the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell, and the Hyundai NEXO.
It's not yet fully on sale in the UK; three cars are currently in the country, and will be loaned to Honda customers for several months at a time to rack up miles and accrue data to help Honda with future development. Three more cars will arrive in Britain in 2018, as part of the same programme.
In 2018, 77 new hydrogen stations went into operation globally, taking the total number of hydrogen stations in operation worldwide to 337.
