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Fuel cells and batteries are fundamentally pretty similar. Fuel cells require that you put in a lot of not necessarily clean energy in a central place to genera
by Veratyr 9y ago
Fuel cells and batteries are fundamentally pretty similar. Fuel cells require that you put in a lot of not necessarily clean energy in a central place to generate hydrogen, then distribute that hydrogen to vehicles, which then use it to drive in a way that doesn't produce further pollutants. The same can be said of electricity. You generate it in a not necessarily clean way, distribute it to vehicles, they use it without polluting further.
Cleanliness isn't really any reason one way or the other but there are other differences. Energy density of hydrogen fuel cells is higher than Lithium ion batteries so vehicles can travel further. On the other hand, physically moving hydrogen is relatively expensive and infrastructure to do so doesn't currently exist while distribution of electricity is a thoroughly solved problem and is relatively efficient.
- totally 9y agoShould also be stated that a significant amount of energy is lost in carrying electricity over distances (over power lines and while at rest in batteries), which is not the case for H2.
- Veratyr 9y agoThat's a good point. Transmission losses in the US are estimated to be roughly 5%: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=105&t=3 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=105&t=3 So to beat that, you have to use less than one fuel cell to transport 19 other fuel cells. I honestly have no idea whether that's easy or not.
- proee 9y agoI would consider our transmission of electrical energy to be very efficient. To transmit power thousands of miles and only lose a few percent is remarkable.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- posterboy 9y agoIf I recall correctly, hydrogen storage is lossy as well, because it escapes most containers, slowly.