Do Hydrogen Cars Have a Future?

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As we witness flourishing sales of electric vehicles that are highly regarded as the future of emissions free automation, not that much enthusiasm is witnessed in the case of hydrogen cars. It still remains a fact that you can come across hydrogen-powered cars in the different markets; there are very few folks that are currently going for them. Whether you are opting for any of the aforementioned options, it still remains a fact that buying any of these two options can be an expensive undertaking. Here is where the concept of used cars in the UAE comes into play and platforms such as CarSwitch serve the purpose in the best possible ways. 

The question arises at this point is whether hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have a future or not. Keeping in view the innovation involved in the genre, car makers have been pursuing experiments with the mesmerizing hydrogen fuel cell technology for plenty of years. There have been continuous efforts to crack the formula in order to make the most of the plentiful resources in the universe to power cars. Although efforts have been made, the progress is very slow compared to that of battery EVs. 

There are certain cars like the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo that have been making the headlines and still more to come. Besides, there are more hydrogen-powered cars as well as vans that are all set to be on the way with brands like BMW, Land Rover and Vauxhall gearing up to hit the roads with new models within the next five years.  

Read More: Your Guide to Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Cars

Owing to the fact that refilling a hydrogen car is just the same as filling up with the conventional methods, it is also just as rapid as it takes just 5 minutes to fill a tank. This is without any doubt of great benefit as compared to the duration spent on charging an electric car.

That being said it is also true that one of the main reasons for the sluggish trend in the rise of hydrogen vehicles is the ongoing infrastructure. One of the main reasons behind this is the lack of hydrogen stations that are far less than the number of petrol stations as well as public EV charge points. However, there is still a silver lining as more hydrogen filling stations have been planned across various countries such as the UK where there is an increasing demand for hydrogen cars. 

In addition, there are also some other production hurdles although lots of them have apparently been overcome and the odds are in favor of hydrogen cars that can be witnessed like other cars in the near future.

One of the greatest pieces of advice that are often made against hydrogen vehicles is that they are less efficient as compared to EVs. Owing to the fact that hydrogen doesn’t occur naturally and it must be extracted and then compressed in fuel tanks. This is followed by mixing it with oxygen in a fuel cell stack to successfully create electricity for successfully powering the car’s motors. 

Truth be told, hydrogen-powered cars still have a long way to go when it comes to replacing EVs. On the contrary, hydrogen is projected to balance pure electric power, and there is a fair enough reason for this as it is the cleanest fuel available. 

Lithium-ion battery production for electric cars is so energy-intensive owing to the fact that Lithium mining involves the emission of several tones of CO2. If you just keep this in mind while taking into consideration charging the battery from sources other than a zero-emission means throughout its lifetime, we can proudly say that an electric car still adds more towards a specific amount of CO2 emission although this does not come from an exhaust. 

For real sustainable mobility, it stands true beyond the shadow of doubt that hydrogen is a fuel that must not be skipped. It is highly regarded as a potential choice for fueling HGVs, where electric trucks are vulnerable by battery capacity and must have to be recharged from the power grid.

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