The Feasibility of Hydrogen Vehicles

A hydrogen vehicle, as the name suggests is powered by hydrogen instead of gasoline, as is the case in contemporary vehicles.  The vehicles can be buses, cargo bikes, PHB bikes, trains, motorcycles, golf-carts, wheelchairs, airplanes, ships, submarines and even rockets. Such vehicles convert hydrogen into energy through electro-chemical conversion (Fuel-cell conversion) or combustion. In the electro-chemical conversion engines, hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water. The electricity powers the traction motor. In the combustion engines on the other hand, hydrogen is combusted in engine similar to the traditional combustion engines in contemporary vehicles. 

Extracting hydrogen power for use in vehicles is a complex process. Hydrogen and Oxygen are the two natural elements that make water. Hydrogen is not regarded as a source of energy but a carrier of the same mainly because extracting the same from water takes much energy. To date, there is no efficient technology for use in extracting hydrogen energy. Even established carmakers like Ford Motor Company and Renault-Nissan have dropped plans to develop hydrogen cars mainly because of the costs involved and the lack of a reliable hydrogen production plants. 

The most definite utilization of hydrogen in vehicles is evident in rockets. This is mainly based on the gas’s ability to give the high exhaust velocity and low net weight to the propellant.  In airplanes, the use of hydrogen engines is still in the trial phase. The major obstacle in the development of hydrogen vehicles is mainly cost related. In addition to the high costs, the hydrogen fuel cells are also fragile thus making them unreliable for use in vibrations and bumps generated by automobiles. Most hydrogen engines require the use of rare catalysts such as platinum, thus making the cost even more prohibitive. Engineers are however researching on what else can be used as a catalyst in order to lower the costs. Nickel-tin is a nonmetal catalyst that is under serious consideration by the engineers.  

Another hindrance in the development of hydrogen vehicles is the fact that the fuel cell can solidify in freezing conditions. This means that the Hydrogen vehicles are only operational on temperatures above 32 F or 0 Celsius. However, this concern is mainly before engine start-up since the engine can generate enough heat to maintain enough operational temperatures.  To solve this problem, engineers think that the inclusion of a pre-heating device or the use of a fuel cell that has some form of heating element would solve this problem. 

There are also concerns about the service life of hydrogen vehicles. Although the service life in cycling has been confirmed ay 7,300 hours, the target for heavy-duty vehicles such as buses is still under research. In such vehicles, the target of service life is set at 30,000 hours. Large-scale development of hydrogen vehicles would lead to decreased green house gases emissions since hydrogen fuels do not produce carbon dioxide. For this to happen however, engineers and researchers must overcome the challenges presented in the production, transportation and storage of the hydrogen-powered vehicles.