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cells and hydrogen fuel for cars, a dead end

ILLUSTRATION - Comparison between the chain of processing and distribution of energy for vehicles with hydrogen-CAP, right, and the chain for battery electric vehicles to the left. The PAC-hydrogen cars consume three times more electricity than electric cars or plug-in hybrid electric mode. Illustration from my latest book Roll without oil.

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (CAP) have been presented since the mid-1990s as the panacea to the problems of pollution caused by motor vehicles, as only water vapor out Hose exhaust. Moreover, knowing that 96% of hydrogen is currently produced from fossil fuels , oil and gas are necessarily a good eye for the arrival of a hydrogen economy.

The main advantages of hydrogen are put forward the possibility to refuel in less than 10 minutes and offer a range of 500 km , unlike batteries, which took several hours for their recharge and limit the autonomy of an electric car at a distance of about 200 km. However, since 2007 the ew batteries lithium titanate as those of Altairnano or Toshiba can also be recharged in less than 10 minutes. In addition, a plug-in hybrid car can also be refueled in less than 10 minutes to an autonomy of 700 km, while the vast majority of our mileage with grid electricity .

Remember that hydrogen does not exist naturally on Earth . It is associated, among other things, the oxygen form water and carbon to form hydrocarbons (oil and natural gas) or coal. To obtain hydrogen, must first separate the molecules where it is located, which consumes energy and produces CO2 when using fossil fuels as a source of hydrogen .

While some automakers have made some nice cars PAC-functional and emission-free hydrogen instead of use, hydrogen is not as beneficial as people say. Several experts, including Ulf Bossel Have shown that the hydrogen economy was not really viable and sustainable development that away by taking this path. The main reasons are (see Driving without oil for details) :

• When hydrogen is produced by reforming natural gas and electricity in a power plant to natural gas , a car CAP emits 50% more CO2 a car battery electric car or a plug-in hybrid electric mode.
• When hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy (not CO2) CAP vehicles consume three times more electricity than battery electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• should invest hundreds of billions of dollars to establish a distribution network of hydrogen .
• Make full of hydrogen would cost at least five times more expensive than fill power. It is about 15 times more expensive today.
• The explosive aspect of this gas safe distribution makes it difficult to scale, while the common people should be full. In addition, a gas station to refuel, we need 15 trucks to compressed hydrogen to replace a gasoline truck, adding to the dangers on the roads.
• The development of vehicles CAP is ten years behind on hybrid electric vehicles pluggable . Thus, CAP vehicles with no particular advantage, however, that makes it very unlikely a significant market penetration.

It is high time to turn the page "spending hydrogen" to quickly develop a real "economy of the electron (green)" .