Quote:
Originally Posted by TorqueDog
I don't get why hydrogen fuel cells aren't the next step instead of fully electric.
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Since we can't just dig up or find hydrogen, hydrogen is basically just a different kind of battery.
So at the end of the day
Electricity -> Hydrogen -> Fuel Cell -> Electricity -> Motor -> Zoom
vs
Electricity -> Battery -> Electricity -> Motor -> Zoom
The 2nd is probably going to be more efficient since you pretty much get out all the electricity you put into a battery. Making hydrogen isn't very efficient.
Hydrogen does have some theoretical advantages in that it's a chemical reaction so the energy density is higher, but in practice it's a very difficult gas to work with. If it was cheaper or easier to work with there might be a case for it (and maybe there still is in some applications), but it seems like just getting better batteries is a better overall path.
Jason at Engineering Explained had a good video on the Toyota hydrogen V8 combustion car and while it focuses on that (fuel cells would be way better than combustion hydrogen), a lot of the other issues with hydrogen still apply.